Rekindling Cinders
by BANIX
Summary: I thought that I now have a purpose in my second life, I thought that everything would be alright even if I am reborn as a villain because there's no way I will be one. At least that is what I thought until my purpose was taken away from me. Now, all I want is revenge. (Reincarnated OC as Zancrow)
1. Chapter 1- Flames of Vengeance

"Zan! Can you help me bring in another bag of flour?"

"Coming!"

Kara Cinders watched with a blissful smile on her face as her seven year old son ran out to get another bag of flour from the storeroom of their bakery. Her daughter, Zariah, who is four years old this year, is happily cutting shapes on the dough with a mould and giggling away from all the fun she is having.

Kara is happy.

Life in Azalea Town isn't easy, not when she have to raise two kids by her lonesome and run a bakery at the same time. Her husband had passed away two years ago from an incurable disease and it brought tears to her eyes whenever she is reminded that the love of her life will not be able to see their children grow up.

Kara had prepared herself for the worst when she had finished arranging the funeral for her husband. They only have some savings from her husband's time as a mage, which wasn't much since he wasn't a very powerful mage to begin with, and a bakery which they both opened together. Zancrow was only five years old and little Zariah was only two. She wouldn't stop asking her where her papa is. Kara didn't have the heart to tell her that her papa is gone forever. She told Zariah that her papa is on a long mission and won't be back until many years later.

She dreads the day where she will have to tell Zariah the truth.

The townsfolk who were sympathetic to her plight had helped a little whenever they could but life is tough for them as well. Azalea Town is located in a rural area in Fiore and is not known for having anything special. The town is barely sustaining itself as it is with their small population. To her relief, Zancrow, her oldest child, is very mature for his age and often help to take care of Zariah to the best of his ability as a five year old. He understands that his father is dead and that life will only get harder from there. He also helped out in the bakery whenever little Zariah had fallen asleep after playing with him, and both mother and son will spend their time in the bakery selling their produce or kneading dough with their hands caked in flour.

The heavens might have taken her husband away from her, but she is blessed with two very wonderful children.

Seeing how Zancrow always helped out in the bakery in his free time, Zariah had imitated her older brother and tried to help out as well. There's a lot of things that both mother and son will not allow Zariah to do in the kitchen due to her age, and they both settled for letting her help in cutting the dough into various shapes with the mould.

Kara was brought out of her musings when Zancrow heaved in two big bags of flour into the kitchen. Zancrow has always been a very strong child, both in the body and mind. Kara suspected that Zancrow might have inherited magical abilities from his father, it will explain the unnatural strength he possessed. But there is no way for her to confirm her suspicions as his magic had not physically manifested itself if it was indeed present within Zancrow.

"Mama! Look! The gingerbread man is dancing!"

Both Kara and Zancrow whipped their heads to Zariah. They saw the little girl waving her hands excitedly while being covered in flour as the gingerbread men she had cut up with the mould danced to a tune that is playing from the lacrima music player lying in the corner of their kitchen. Both their jaws dropped as they saw at least ten of the gingerbread man she had cut up danced around her in a circle on the table where Zariah is sitting.

"Ria! You have magic!" Zancrow shouted excitedly as he went up to give Zariah a happy hug which she returned. The siblings are very close to each other and Kara could still remember the day where Zancrow had swore that he would protect Zariah with his life when he first held her in her arms shortly after Zariah was born. Zancrow's shout brought Kara out of her reverie as well as she planted a quick kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"Well done, Ria. Do you know that only 10% of the people in this world are able to use magic? You are one of them!" Kara purposely said those words in an excited tone to liven Zariah's mood even higher than it already was. Zariah gave a squeal of delight and the gingerbread men began to tap dance faster and faster.

"Uh... Mum? Is it ok for her Ria to keep going like that? I mean, won't she get tired from using magic repeatedly? She's only four." Zancrow whispered to Kara as he stood by her side and watched Zariah continuing to command the gingerbread men, who is now marching to a militaristic tune that is now playing from their music player.

True to Zancrow's words, the gingerbread men fell lifeless back onto the baking tray just one minute later. Ria gave a exhausted yawn and she signaled to Zancrow with both of her arms to pick her up.

"Sleepy..." Zariah mumbled as Zancrow gave a chuckle.

"We need to get you cleaned up first, then you can go and take a nap. Ok?"

"Kay."

Kara watched as the siblings made their exit from the kitchen and she returned to kneading the dough. If it wasn't for Zancrow's maturity, she would have really been at a loss on how to raise both of her kids while working at the same time. She could probably trouble her neighbours to keep an eye on them from time to time, but it definitely isn't a long term solution to her problems.

"Ria's asleep. I don't think she will be waking up for a while." Zancrow said softly as he reappeared in the kitchen about 15 minutes later and helped put the baking tray full of the gingerbread man into the baking oven before turning on the heat with a fire lacrima. "That magic stunt seemed to take a lot out of her."

"You seemed to take it very well. I thought you would have been jealous about not having your own magic." Kara inquired curiously. While she knew that Zancrow is a lot more smarter and mature than he seems, he is still a seven year old kid. Either he is very good at concealing his true emotions, or he really does not care whether he has magic or not. As his mother, it is her job to ensure her son's mental well-being. Jealousy can be a very ugly and poisonous venom if it was allowed time and room to fester.

"I'm pretty sure I have my own magic, but for some reason I can't seem to manifest it." Zancrow admitted as he returned to stand beside Kara and helped her to knead another large ball of dough. "I can feel it inside me, I know I have it. Having my own magic will explain why I can lift heavy objects like the large bags of flour without effort. I know that my strength isn't natural. I guess that maybe I should stop forcing my magic to come out and wait for it to occur naturally instead, like what Ria did."

Kara patted Zancrow's head dotingly at his words.

"Aww. My cute little Zan is growing up so fast." Kara cooed. She knew that her son is easily embarrassed at open displays of affection and seeing him getting flustered about it always made a cute sight.

"Stop it, Mum. You are getting the flour into my hair." Zancrow grumbled as he tried to dust off the flour off his long, unruly blond hair, only to make it worse due to the fact that his own hands are covered with flour as well.

Kara gave an exaggerated sigh. "They grow up so fast. Little Zan doesn't want to spend time with his Mummy anymore." She raised a hand to wipe away the "tears" at the corner of her eyes.

Kara could see Zancrow's lips twitching from the corner of her eyes as if he wanted to retort, but he held his tongue. He returned to kneading the dough and both mother and son accompanied each other in a comfortable silence for a short while.

"What magic did Dad have?"

Zancrow's sudden question took Kara off guard, but a smile soon returned to her face as she remembered the magic that her husband once wielded. It was impressive, even if he never managed to become a powerful mage in his life.

"It was the ability to control fire. Fire can never harm your father, they all bend to his will."

"Fire control, huh?" Zancrow seemed lost in thought as he continued to knead the dough. "In that case, then my magic will most definitely be fire-related."

Kara blinked at that sudden statement. "Why do you think so?"

"Ria got that 'control' part down. You didn't see it, but she used her magic just now to wrap herself comfortably with her blanket before going to sleep. I suspect that her magic allows her to control anything she wish, although I am unsure if she can control living things. If Ria inherited 'control', then I probably will inherit the 'fire' part from Dad."

Kara laughed at the logic her son used. Well, it sounded reasonable, but the leap in logic is just too hilarious!

"Stop laughing." Zancrow said with a pout as he stopped his kneading and put both his hands on his hips. Kara just laughed enough louder.

It's just another ordinary day for the Cinders.

* * *

"And then, Aladdin just flew down from the sky with his magic carpet with a WHOOSH!" I exclaimed out loud as Ria clapped her hands excitedly.

It had been a month since Ria had awaken her magic. As I had suspected, her magic is to allow her to control any non-living objects. She still have difficulties trying to get larger objects to move, but that is probably due to her young age.

It wasn't long before Mum and I realised that Ria had some sort of Eye Magic as well. We found out about it when she transformed the pebbles at the back of her house into little cats and animate them. I gaped at the display of her magic when I saw it for the first time. I know that there might be something special with our eyes seeing that both Ria and I had unusual looking eyes with concentric circles in them. We both had inherited the blood-red pupils with concentric circles in it just like Dad did. Ria's ability to transform non-living objects into living things means that she now have the ability to control both living and non-living objects, even if the former required a non-living object to turn it into a living organism in the first place. I have no idea what category of magic Ria's Eye Magic belongs to, but I guessed that calling it a form of Living Magic or Creation Magic should be appropriate enough. She had created life just by simply looking at a stray pebble. There are limitations to her magic, like how she cannot create another human and that the creatures she created have limited intelligence, but her magic is still powerful in its own right.

Ria will grow up into a very powerful mage in the future, I am certain of it. Which brings me to my next question, where was she in canon?

It didn't take me long to realise that I was reborn into the world of Fairy Tail given how unique my name was. Seeing how magic was bought, sold, and traded on a daily basis was a dead giveaway too. I soon learnt that we lived in a town called Azalea Town in Fiore, which is located near the mountainous southwest region.

I wasn't particularly thrilled in learning that I had been reborn as a villain in Fairy Tail, but there's no way I am going to be a villain in my new life. My new Mum and sister in this life is all I need, regardless of the presence of magic in this new world. I wasn't too bothered about my death in my previous life, I don't have anything to live for. I didn't have any family previously, they had died in a car crash when I was three and I was subsequently sent to an orphanage. I had friends, but it is nowhere close to having a real family and I wasn't particularly close to any of them. I was a loner. I don't have a real ambition either, I don't know what I was living for and had no idea what to live for.

I just lived for the sake of living. I don't have a purpose in life.

I lived in the orphanage until I became an adult and moved out of there. I had a decent job, but the building that the company that I was working for suddenly caught fire.

I lost my life there.

Funny how I died to a fire in my previous life and the magic I am sure I am going to wield in my new life is Fire Magic. Fate sure works in strange ways. As Zancrow, I can feel a strange connection to any form of fire, it was why I was sure that my latent magic is definitely fire-related. However, I still cannot produce or control them just like how Mum told me Dad used to do. I never saw him used magic when he was still alive although he had told me he used to be a mage.

Makes me wonder why he retired from being a mage. Did he somehow lose his ability to use magic? That is a thought for another day.

Dad had passed away when I was five and it hit us all pretty hard. Ria was too young to understand the implications of life and death so she wasn't too affected, but I can tell Mum was devastated. I tried to make life easier for her by helping her out, but there's only so much I can do as a five year old kid.

Whatever little I remembered about the Fairy Tail series did bring out some questions that I have currently no answers to. If I am indeed the same Zancrow in canon,what about Ria? What about Mum? Where were they in canon? Why did canon Zancrow not have Eye Magic? Will I have Eye Magic like Ria? Why was canon Zancrow so psychotic? What happened? How did canon Zancrow ended up in Grimoire Heart? As far as I know, Zancrow had a normal childhood up till now. Nothing noteworthy or unordinary happened. With such powerful magic at her disposal, why did Ria not make an appearance in canon?

The first thought that crept up my head was that she was dead even before canon started. I squashed it back down in the confines of my mind. There is no way I will allow that to happen. I will sooner cut off my limb or end my life than to let Ria die.

My new family are the best things that had happened to me in my second life. Their presence gave me my purpose to live, I will not allow anything bad to happen to them. I couldn't help to save Dad, but I will be damned if anything untoward were to happen to Mum and Ria. I had no ambition or purpose in my previous life but that has changed. I couldn't help save Dad, so Mum and Ria are the reasons for my existence now.

They make me feel wanted. They make me feel that life here is worth living.

"Zan! I need you to get some more eggs and flour from the market!" Mum hollered from the kitchen.

"I'm on it!" I shouted back as I ruffled Ria's blond hair lovingly. We had both inherited our hair and eye colour from Mum.

"Zan, can you use magic and come back faster? I want to continue to listen to your stories! When we grow up, I can bring us flying all over the world with a magic carpet like Aladdin! Then we can all go and see the world together!"

I chuckled as Ria made that statement. Ever since I started to tell her bedtime stories from my previous world and how big the world is, she had made it her dream to travel the world the moment she is old enough.

"I haven't awaken my magic yet, Ria." I told her gently as I stood up. "I will be able to use it one day, then we can all go and see the world outside Azalea together once we are old enough. We will bring Mum along too."

"It's a promise!" Ria exclaimed as she held out a pinky finger. "Pinky promise!"

I can feel Mum watching us in amusement from the kitchen despite having my back turned towards it. I hooked my pinky finger around Ria's and playfully pinched her nose.

"Meanie!"

I just laughed as I grabbed some money lying on the dining table to buy the supplies Mum requested and bolted out of the door before Ria can get me back for the pinch by using her magic to animate the couch in the living room. I can hear Ria humming the tune of 'A Whole New World' as I exited the house.

I ran towards the market which is at the center of the town. If I get there fast enough, I should be able to get back home before Ria throws a tantrum. She does not like to have her stories interrupted.

I inwardly sighed, I'm so whipped by a four year old kid.

* * *

I tried to move my body underneath all the rubble that I was buried under but I can't move. I tried to scream for help, but nothing came out of my mouth but hacked coughs and blood. What on earth happened? Why is our town under attack?!

I was nearly home when our town was engulfed in explosions that happened at various corners simultaneously. The building on my left that I was passing by had exploded and when I came to, I was buried under a huge pile of rubble and debris, unable to move an inch and hidden from the world.

I could still see what is happening outside through the gaps and cracks between the concrete from where I was lying. I can see the bakery, where Mum and Ria are supposed to be. It's still intact and standing, much to my relief. Many of the townsfolk were killed by the unannounced explosions and lay dead on the streets, their face contorted in pain and surprise before they breathe their last. I don't see Mum's and Ria's bodies anywhere, which I considered to be a good sign considering the circumstances.

My breath hitched when I saw an elderly old man with long, silvery slicked back white hair and with mustache and beard of the same colour appear in my vision. He had an eyepatch over his right eye and wore a dark shirt and pants with a cape billowing in the wind after him. There's only one guy in the Fairy Tail verse with that kind of getup.

Hades. Grimoire Heart's guild master and the Second Master of Fairy Tail.

_Why?! Why is **he** here?!_

I watched as he blew the bakery up by pointing a finger at it, revealing Ria and Mum. Mum hugged Ria protectively to her chest and she tried to get them away from Hades. Hades gave her an uninterested look and forcefully separated her from Ria with magic.

"Don't hurt Mama!"

With a scream, Ria configured wolves from the debris around her and they leapt at Hades with a snarl. Hades seemed to be taken aback, but he destroy the wolves with a single swipe of his hands.

"Interesting. To think that someone as young as you is able to use magic so similar to Primordial Magic." Hades commented as he stroked his long beard. "Are your eyes the origin of your powers?"

I screamed as Hades lifted Ria into the air with magic and Ria thrashed about in the air as she tried to free herself. Mum tried to save Ria by tackling herself onto Hades, but he simply shot a concentrated blast of magic at her heart and Mum lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

No. _No, no, no this cannot be happening! Mum!_

"A foolish attempt. Someone without magic can never hope to defeat one who walks alongside them."

"Mama! Mama!"

"Don't bother yourself with her. Now, would you care to show me more of your magic?"

With an enraged howl, Ria's eyes glowed blood-red and she created several dragons the size of horses from the remnants of our bakery and they attacked Hades with a vengeance. Hades simply laughed maniacally as he proceeded to destroy them with ease.

"Splendid! Such wonderful magic! Magic that is so close to the root of all magic! Living Magic! To think a kid so young is able to use Living Magic!" Ria is absolutely terrified at this point as tears streaked down her face.

"Mama! Zan!" Ria repeatedly cried for Mum and I as Hades walked closer to her. I tried to free myself from where I was trapped underneath all the rubble to rush to Ria's aid, but I couldn't move a. fucking. inch.

"Ria!" I tried to scream to transfer Hades's attention onto me, but nothing came out of my mouth but more blood and sputters. I tried to reach for the power I know that is within me to see if I can unlock my magic, or throw a pebble at Hades, or scream at him. Anything. Anything to prevent that fucking monster from laying a hand on my sister. I screamed in silence and I cursed in my mind. My throat must have been damaged somehow from the attack. Damn it!

"No one else will hear your cries, girl. My subordinates are doing a beautiful job in killing everyone in this town. It pains my heart, but it is necessary if we want to create the keys to unseal Zeref from his slumber. Rejoice in the fact that your death will bring a glorious age of magic to the world."

Hades removed his eyepatch to reveal the empty eye socket in his socket and I watched. I watched in horror as he slowly used his fingers and _gouged_ Ria's right eye out as she screamed and thrashed in pain throughout the whole duration. He held Ria's right eye in his hand and inserted it into his right eye socket. A hiss of steam later, Ria's eye had successfully been implanted into Hades.

No way. Ria's eye was Hades's Demon Eye?! HOW DARE HE! I WILL KILL HIM! I WILL FUCKING KILL HIM!

Hades dropped Ria unceremoniously onto the floor, who is convulsing on the ground in pain from the extraction process.

"On behalf on Zeref and Grimoire Heart, I thank you for your sacrifice. Now, you can join your mother."

The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was a bright flash of light from the explosion of Hades's magic and my silent scream.

* * *

**AN: It wasn't in my plan to write another new story but this idea has been sitting in my head and kept on replaying for so long that I really needed to get it out or else I cannot focus on my studies. Anyway, I hope you guys will grow to enjoy it.**


	2. Chapter 2- Meredy

"Zancrow, I will be assigning you to Ultear and Kain for your next assignment. Do not fail me."

"Understood, Master Hades." I acknowledged as I turned around and walked out of the bridge of the airship where Hades is sitting on his throne. I closed the door of the room behind me and walked along the empty corridors towards the meeting room.

Five years. It has been five years since Mum and Ria had been killed by this wretched man in his twisted and insane quest to get his hands on Zeref.

When I first regained consciousness after the attack on Azalea, I was in Grimoire Heart's airship, lying on a bed covered in bandages. Hades was sitting on a chair beside my bed reading a book, eyepatch over his right eye, my _sister's_ eye, and it took every ounce of self-control right there and then not to try and outright kill him. Thankfully, I managed to control myself, and Hades attributed my weird behaviour to a panic attack when I found myself in an unfamiliar environment.

Not that I could harm him anyway. Not even now. I am still too _weak_.

Hades spun a very well-crafted lie. He told me that he was passing by my town when it had been attacked by a dark guild and that there were no other survivors. He was about to leave when he sensed my presence underneath the rubble and brought me back with him due to the amount of potential I showed. He probably didn't lie about the potential part. According to him, I have very huge magic reserves for a child. He invited me to join Grimoire Heart, whose goal is to attain and understand the "Essence of Magic" and create a better world for mages.

Inwardly, I seethed in rage and disgust at how he can outright lie to me without guilt nor remorse with _my sister's eye_ sitting in his head. Outwardly, I played the part of an ignorant child and feigned ignorance to the concept of magic and asked him if magic is able to bring back the dead, a fake excuse that I thought up on the spot. Joining Grimoire Heart is the only way I can think of to get my revenge on Hades. I need power, fast, if I want my revenge. Joining Grimoire Heart is the best way to do so. It's not like I have a legitimate reason to refuse him considering my circumstances. At that point I am a seven year old with nowhere to go. Even if I told him I don't want to join, he will probably just kill me without a second thought and find the next best candidate to recruit into his little merry gang. However, I need to mislead him on my real reason in joining Grimoire Heart. Bringing someone back to life sounded like a believable reason in joining a dark guild. Hades told me that with the "Essence of Magic", nothing is impossible, and that I can see my family again as long as I helped him in his quest to find Zeref.

It's true that Zeref managed to successfully revive the dead, but Natsu nearly turned into a demon as a result of that. As much as I missed Mum, Ria, and even Dad, the dead should stay dead. Nothing good comes out of trying to play god and interfere with the natural cycle of life and death.

More importantly, I don't want to taint my memories of them even further with dark magic. I want them to be as pure and untainted as I had remembered them.

Hades took away the only people I held dear. He made me an orphan again. He made me all alone and forced me to experience the feeling of loneliness and the lack of a sense of purpose _again_. I **_will_** kill Hades. I swear on it. I will not rest until I retrieved Ria's eye out of his skull and burn him alive. I will punish him for tainting Ria's magic, which was so beautiful and full of life, into something horrendous. I will see to it that Hades dies in agony, many times worst than what he made Mum and Ria experienced.

But until I am strong enough to do so, I need to play the part of being Hades's hunting dog.

After successfully misleading Hades that my reason for joining him is to revive and see my dead family again, he began to teach me about magic. I am unsure if Hades knew that the eye he stole belongs to _my_ sister or whether he knew that I saw what he did that fateful day. Ria and I looked a little alike with our eyes and hair, so he might have made the connection between us, but if he did, he gave no indications about it. Despite my hatred for that bastard, even I have to admit that he is a very good teacher when it comes to magic. It only took him a single day to help me unlock my magic when I had been trying for years since I know I am _the_ Zancrow from the Fairy Tail verse. Similar to canon, he taught me Fire God Slayer Magic using an ancient tattered tome he found from somewhere and I spent most of my free time honing my newfound magic powers.

I have an old fossil to kill. Time spent idle is time I rather spend on devising ways to kill him. To this date, I haven't seen him using the magic derived from my sister's eye, but I knew he has to be practicing on how to properly use it. I have no doubt that he will corrupt my sister's Eye Magic with dark magic of his own, just like how he corrupted every other type of magic he used with dark magic. The thought of that infuriated me. It spurred me to train even harder than before.

When I agreed to join Hades, I told him that I will join on the condition that I will get to choose who I kill, giving me some freedom in choosing the assignments that he assigned to the members of the guild. Maybe it was because he was feeling a little guilty, maybe it was because he still had a tiny shred of compassion that remained after he became Hades of Grimoire Heart, I don't know and I will never find out, but Hades relented and agreed to my request after much arguing on my part.

To date, I only go on missions where I do not need to kill innocents. The reason I gave Hades was that I don't want anyone else to experience what I did back at Azalea and I don't want to be the reason why innocent people are dead even if I am now a member of a dark guild. That's the only truth about myself I ever told him. Hades begrudgingly accepted my reason, he knew my motivation in joining him (or so he thought) and I was proving myself to be a valuable member of Grimoire Heart by being a skilled collector of information, information that the guild relies on to make their decisions. Over the years, I have trained myself to be a spymaster, and my spy network had brought valuable intel for the guild together with many job postings, jobs that would not be posted to legal guilds simply due to the fact that these jobs are illegal. Grimoire Heart had a wide variety of missions that were posted to our guild from the underworld of Fiore. Assassinations and outright murder were common jobs for us. Due to my agreement with Hades and my known dislike for needless killing, he sent me out for mainly reconnaissance missions or bodyguard missions for the VIPs of the underworld where the chances of me needing to kill anyone are at the lowest. I have never needed to kill anyone on such missions before.

It is also on such missions that I had trained myself to collect information from all sorts of people at any kind of place. Over time, I had slowly crafted a unique place for myself in Grimoire Heart. They cannot simply get rid of me when I am now their eyes and ears, and I can choose what kind of information I want to feed them after I had gained their complete trust. It is another form of power I need other than magical strength. The power of secrecy and information is equally important, especially when you are dealing with members from a dark guild.

In this horrid environment, you can never fully trust anyone.

The only time I have killed, and willingly killed, is when there are missions to exterminate other dark guilds or whenever I know that my target is some scum that is a waste of space and the world is better off without them. It is only on such missions that I truly gave in to my bloodlust and massacred people without mercy. The drawback of God Slayer Magic is that it causes the user to experience constant bloodlust in varying degrees. It kind of explains canon Zancrow psychotic behaviour, Orga's lust for battle, and Sherria's slightly crazed personality during her fight with Wendy during the Grand Magic Games arc. I am able to control the bloodlust to a certain extent, although there is always a possibility that I may lose control once I am engaged in battle. Thankfully, that possibility has been reduced to a minimum and the likelihood of me going berserk is minusculely small.

The underworld is a chaotic place where only the strongest survives. There are many spats between dark guilds and it isn't uncommon for dark guilds to band together to massacre another dark guild, only for the alliance to dissolve shortly after and the previously allied guilds to tear at each other's throats the moment they have no need of an alliance. The Balam Alliance had not been set up yet, which is reasonable since the key players of Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart are not yet old and strong enough to contribute to their guild's strength, but it will not be long before said alliance will be set up from how things are playing out.

In my opinion, every dark guild should be vanquished. The Fairy Tail manga and anime had heavily censored the griefs and deaths that dark guilds brought about with them. They are merciless and will kill for literally anything. The Magic Council and the royal family is also equally inept at solving this issue, and thus the civilians had took it into their own hands to post mission requests to legal guilds to solve the dark guild problem. It's more efficient that way.

What a sad reality.

When the government fails to do its duty, the people suffer. The fact that a large amount of dark guilds running rampant across Fiore is the most accurate reflection of the crisis it is facing. It is probably why people allowed problematic guilds like Fairy Tail to continue existing despite the huge amount of property damage they caused. Fairy Tail's efficiency in clearing out dark guilds and their success rate is renowned even in the underworld. Buildings destroyed can be rebuilt, but lives lost cannot be revived. The citizens of Fiore prefer to rebuilt the buildings destroyed by mages from legal guilds than to lose their loved ones to dark mages. It is a trade they are willing to make.

"Zan...Zan...Zancrow...We are...goingonamissiontogether!" Kain said to me the moment I appeared in the meeting room. He have a speech disorder and is constantly nervous about everything, which he tries to curb by eating large amounts of food and is the main reason why he is obese. Despite how he looks, Kain is strong. Lucy and Natsu got incredibly lucky in how they defeated him on Tenrou Island.

"Kain." I replied curtly in greeting. I don't talk to the other Grimoire Heart members often even if they are the future members of the Seven Kins of Purgatory. Most of Grimoire Heart members are crazed murderers or outlaws who had nothing else left to lose. Most of my time is spent alone and honing my magic, reading on books that ranges from magic to history, music, and pretty much anything under the sun. I don't care what I do as long as it allows me to interact with the people here at the bare minimum. I don't want to associate myself with them at all if possible. The only reason I am staying is the possibility for revenge.

Ultear walked in shortly after. She is the de facto leader in Hades's absence and is a good few years older than me. I think our age gap was at about 5 years if I remember it right. If Hades had assigned her to this mission, then this mission is more important to him than I give credit for.

"On time as always, Zancrow." Ultear commented as she sat on a chair and lazily rolled her orb that she is always carrying around with her along her outstretched arm.

I grunted and nodded in acknowledgement. Even when I knew from my prior knowledge that she will turn out to be repentful for her sins, right now, Ultear is a psychotic murderer just like anyone else. I don't want to speak with her more than is strictly necessary.

"Still a man of few words as usual, I see." Ultear commented as she tried to make small talk with me. Hades is planning to form a small and elite group within the group. He hasn't named the team and the members yet, but I know the team he is planning to construct will be the future Seven Kin of Purgatory. Ultear is a shoe-in for one of the spots in the team and everyone knows her strength. There's no doubt that she will be the one leading the team given her status in the guild as the second-in-command. As one of the eldest member of the future Seven Kins of Purgatory, she had made it her job to get to know everyone in the guild, especially the more powerful members. Apparently, I am one of these "stronger members" in her eyes and one of the more likely candidates to be part of the elite group Hades is planning to create. I had displayed what I was capable of. Fire God Slayer Magic is very, very destructive.

The destroyed mountain top of one of the mountain near the north of Fiore is proof of it. It was where I had fought against three S Class threats from an alliance of five other dark guilds and won without suffering more than a slight case of magic exhaustion. I had single-handedly annihilated that alliance, and that event let the name of our guild spread like wildfire among the underworld. The whole world now knows our strength.

"Just get on with the briefing, I have training to get to." I replied, not caring if I sounded rude. None of the people here are important to me, I will get out of their lives and they will get out of mine the moment I had my revenge on Hades. I don't care about canon or the main storyline unless it affected me in my quest for revenge. I have decided to live my life quietly in some unknown place when I finally had my vengeance in the very unlikely case that I survived my battle against Hades. Zeref and Acnologia can come and wreck as much havoc as they want as long as they don't implicate me. Fairy Tail have some serious plot armour protecting them anyway, they are nigh unkillable and I have no doubt they can save the world no matter what is thrown in their way. I don't care much about what happens next after I had my revenge. I will have lose my purpose to live after getting my revenge anyway. I don't care if I will live in solitude or whether I will live on some remote uninhabited island or get mauled to death by some unknown beast. Maybe I will get out of Fiore and travel to other countries to help fulfill Ria's dream to travel the world. Even if I die in my quest for revenge, I don't care. If my life is the price for revenge, then so be it. I have already lived once, living a second time is a bonus in itself.

In fact, I am almost certain that I will die in my quest for revenge. I just have to drag Hades down with me when that happens.

It's easy to ask others to put down their hatred when you do not experience it yourself. When the same circumstances happens to you, all talks about putting down their weapons and forgive your enemy will be thrown out of the window. Talk is cheap. Even till now, I am unable to put down my quest for revenge.

Revenge is all I live for now.

"Tut, tut. How rude." Ultear playfully waved a finger at me in disapproval and I barely held myself back to set her alight in flames from sheer annoyance. Ultear had been purposefully trying to get on my nerves for the five years that I have been here and I am getting really irritated by it. I averted my eyes away from her and stared outside the window, the glass panes partially reflecting the light and showed my reflection as I gazed at my current appearance and at the clouds outside. Despite being only twelve years old, five years of rigorous training had made me grow like a weed and earned myself a toned body. I looked more like a 15 or 16 year old teenager than a 12 year old child. I am almost reaching Ultear's height despite my young age. I had also let my blond hair grow, and I am starting to look like canon Zancrow minus the crazed expression and his horrible taste in clothes.

No way I will dress up like canon Zancrow, that guy had very bad fashion sense.

"Wha...What are...Whatisthemissionweareassignedto?" Kain asked nervously.

Ultear's attention was brought back to Kain as her orb projected a detailed map of a town up on the screen in the meeting room for all of us to see. Ultear's eyes narrowed as she spoke her next words.

"We are going to obtain the final key to unseal Zeref."

* * *

Tch, murdering innocents again. Just how many will Hades kill until he is satisfied?

My job in this mission is relatively simple. Kain and Ultear will handle the killing, I will handle any outside interference if anyone else do make their appearance to stop us. Usually these people are Rune Knights or some random mages that passed by although I am lucky enough to not run into any of them so far when I am on lookout duty during extermination missions to obtain Zeref's key. Only half an hour had passed and it seemed that Ultear and Kain are already finishing up. Seeing that no one is coming to save this town, I went to find Kain. I dislike Ultear and have no wish to spend time beside the cunning woman unless it is required.

"Zancrow?" Kain's eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw me approaching me. His usually nervous behaviour is gone after entering combat. "Gimme a while more, I still have one more to kill before calling it a day. She ran over to hide in the building over there earlier." Kain pointed at a partially destroyed building and I nodded in acknowledgment.

We both walked towards the building and turned around the bend. It was then I noticed a little girl cowering in fear and crying. Her entire body is caked with dirt and dust, making me unable to see the true colour of her hair and skin. She had not noticed our presence yet.

My fingers twitched in agitation at the sight of the young girl. This isn't the first time I witnessed the death of a child, but these children were dead even before I arrived after the massacre when we do the cleanup. To witness another child fall prey to the senseless killings Hades made us do leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

To make things worse, she is about the same age as Ria too when Ria died. Well, this girl is definitely a little older than Ria when that happened, but the similarities in the situation is uncanny. Visualising her getting struck down by Kain brought unpleasant flashbacks on how Ria was killed and how helpless I was to stop things from happening the way it did.

Kain lifted a hand and my body acted on its own even before I can think about the consequences.

"Zancrow?" Kain rose and eyebrow and questioned my action. I had grabbed onto his arm to prevent him from striking down on the girl.

"Leave it. We had killed enough. Hades won't notice if there is a soul less, the soul of a child won't be of much help anyway." I tried to remain calm as I bullshitted a story on the spot, even surprising myself at how legit the bullshit lie sounded. "Can't you feel it? The kid has a lot of potential to be a mage. She would be a great addition to Grimoire Heart."

Crap, **_what_** am I spouting?! How did my bullshit lie turn into a recruitment talk to convince crazed psychopaths to recruit a _child_ into a dark guild like Grimoire Heart?!

Oh well, I have dug myself a pit. Might as well jump in it.

Letting go of Kain's arm, I walked to stand in front of the girl and knelt down to her level. She looked up in fear at me, but I merely brushed off the dirt and dust clinging onto her face, revealing the pale skin underneath all the dirt.

"Hey." I said as I patted her head. "Everything's fine now. You don't need to cry anymore."

"Woo-wee." Kain said as he made his appearance known to the girl while licking on a huge cone of ice cream he procured from somewhere, probably a requip space of his own. "C'mon, stop those tears. You can have the ice cream if you stop crying, woo-wee."

Huh, so even Kain have a little bit of compassion in him. Unexpected.

"What's going on here?" Ultear walked up to us through the debris, looking spotlessly clean despite the extermination she had just done.

"Found a kid crying in the midst of all the destruction." I replied as I turned to look at her. "She will live on." I said as I purposely stressed on the word _live_. There was a flicker in Ultear's eye and I spotted her hesitation. She had also gotten the hidden meaning behind my words. By telling her that the girl will live on, I basically told them that if they dare to even harm even a single hair on the girl's head, I will come into blows with them, consequences be damned. I'm famous for my short temper back at Grimoire Heart. Combined with my magical prowess, there are very few in the guild that is willing to cross me.

Ultear stayed silent for a short while before turning away and walked back to the direction of our pickup point.

"Fine. The child has a strong flow of magic in her anyway, Master Hades will probably accept her into the guild."

Kain looked at us skeptically, but he followed after Ultear the moment she disappeared round the corner.

The girl looked at the disappeared members of my team before looking back at me in bewilderment. I piggyback her and began the long trek back to the pickup point with my guild mates. Our airship should be arriving anytime soon.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked as I walked at the back of the group a fair distance away from the other two, trying to ease the tension she is feeling. The kid turned her head away shyly before replying in a whisper.

"Meredy."

I somehow managed to keep my poker face on as I processed the words I just heard. Two words kept ringing in my head as I tried to reconcile the fact that the girl I just helped saved is _the_ Meredy.

_The fuck?!_


	3. Chapter 3- Goal and Wish

Meredy have only one goal and one wish in life: to make Zancrow acknowledge her and to stay by his side.

Meredy cannot remember much of her life before Grimoire Heart, but Zancrow was the one who saved her from all the senseless destruction. He rescued her, convinced Ultear and Kain to bring her back to the airship when he could have just left her there, and had a heated argument with Master Hades to keep her in the guild. He eventually agreed to Zancrow's proposed arrangement of keeping her in the guild after noticing Meredy's potential as a mage. Meredy knows that Grimoire Heart is a dark guild, but she doesn't mind. To her, home is where Zancrow is. If Zancrow wants to stay in Grimoire Heart, she will stay as well. If he leaves, Meredy will follow him without hesitation. If Zancrow told her to jump, she would ask how high. If he asked her to kill, she will do it with a smile on her face, even if things had never got to that extreme before. She can tell that Zancrow is protective of her in his own way even if he does not show it blatantly. You have to read his body language, understand the meaning hidden in the few words he spoke. It took a while for her to learn how to spot it, but it warms Meredy's heart that in his own silent way, Zancrow is taking care of her in the best way he knew how.

Even the occasions where she managed to get an accurate read on him are rare. Zancrow is a master at masking his emotions and even better at misdirection due to his job as the guild's spymaster, but Meredy would like to think that she is the best at understanding Zancrow. The other members certainly don't understand him as well as she do. Ultear seemed like she understand Zancrow to an extent as well, but it's obvious to everyone that Zancrow doesn't like Ultear very much even if they can work with each other professionally. Zancrow never spends time with anybody else in his free time unless it's strictly necessary.

Zancrow just seems to hate everyone, period. The hate he emitted constantly is so strong that Meredy sometimes think that Zancrow simply hates the world.

When Meredy was first brought to the guild, Master Hades had put Zancrow in charge of taking care of Meredy, including teaching her basic things like how to read and write. Zancrow didn't protest at being assigned as Meredy's babysitter although Meredy did catch a slight twitching of his fingers.

For reasons unknown, Zancrow had never looked Meredy in the eye initially when they first started living together. Master Hades had kindly arranged for Meredy to live and sleep in Zancrow's room. She knew she was getting preferential treatment, the grunts in the guild had to share rooms, anywhere from four to eight members per room. Only the top members of the guild get their own rooms. The higher you are up in the food chain, the lesser people you have to room with and the greater privileges and privacy you can enjoy. A kid like her would never have the luxury to share a room with only one other person, and a high ranking member to boot, if it wasn't for Zancrow's intervention. She realised that to earn herself a permanent spot in Grimoire Heart, she have to prove her worth to them and to Master Hades.

And to Zancrow as well, if she ever wanted to earn his acknowledgement

Zancrow doesn't speak much, he only spoke when necessary. The other members of the guild reassured her that it is no fault of her own when they saw her crestfallen expression when Zancrow doesn't seem to want to talk to her. They told her Zancrow is a quiet person that spends his free time away from the other members of the guild to train in his magic. No one knows much about him, the only one who can claim to know him best is Master Hades himself since he was the one who introduced Zancrow to the guild. Zancrow appeared punctually for every of her lessons in the guild library as he sat down to teach her about everything and anything he knew, but make no attempts to do anything else outside of lesson materials. Meredy barely had time to interact with him outside lessons since he disappeared to somewhere else once the lessons are over. She would not even catch a glimpse of him if he was on missions. On an ordinary day, Zancrow would wake up early and turn in late. Meredy barely had the chance to talk to him even when they roomed together. Zancrow will just glance at her to see that she is alive and well and then proceed to do his own thing.

Meredy soon realised that Zancrow knew a lot from their lessons. History, geography, math, language, music, arts, sociology, and even psychology. He seems to know a little about everything and Meredy tried very hard to absorb the information Zancrow presented her with. If Zancrow could learn all of these, she can too! She will prove her worth to him!

If Meredy thought that the lessons were hell, it was nothing to what Zancrow knew about magic when he starts to teach her about it. It was like he had devoured every single book about magic sitting on the shelves in the library of the guild. Her head hurts just trying to remember the information Zancrow told her to memorise before the start of their every lesson.

The moment Meredy had access to her magic, Master Hades came over personally to teach her a form of Lost Magic, Maguilty Sense. Meredy was excited, if Hades had acknowledged her worth, then she is one step closer to getting Zancrow to acknowledge her!

She earned her spot in the guild only about one and a half years after getting inducted into the guild. The guild had a tradition, an event held once every year where any guild member who wish to be promoted to the upper echelon will have to take. It's called the Devil's Pit, which took place in a deserted mountain valley in Fiore. It's basically a free-for-all battle royale. Any and all type of magic is allowed. Lethal force is allowed. No one will be held responsible for any deaths. It is a contest where only the strongest survives and a few members die every year in the Devil's Pit. The last one standing, or those who had displayed outstanding performance will be promoted and given a higher status in the guild. Every single high ranking member in the guild had taken part in the Devil's Pit before.

Meredy could tell that Zancrow was worried for her from the way he glanced at her with his eyes. Meredy was the youngest member in history to take part at six years old, way too young to be engaging in a life-and-death brawl. Meredy felt giddy with happiness that Zancrow actually cared for her and returned a bright smile when he shot her worried looks. Zancrow just muttered "Don't die" before turning away and walked up to his seat up on the spectator's stand.

Meredy took all 89 contestants down within ten minutes with Maguilty Sense. All she had to do is to link everyone's sense of pain together with her magic (except for hers, of course). The moment someone unleashed the opening salvo and his attack connected onto another, the pain felt by the victim will be felt by everyone who was connected by Maguilty Sense. No one knew what was going on and the battlefield descended into a mayhem, each member inflicting pain on the entire group and the whole battle spiraled out of control. Meredy didn't have to do anything but stand back and watch as the other participants won the Devil's Pit for her.

Every high ranking member in the guild have their own teams which they sometimes have to lead on missions. Meredy was promoted to be the second-in-command for Zancrow's team for her outstanding performance in the Devil's Pit. Meredy couldn't have been happier when Zancrow congratulated her.

It only took Meredy three years before Master Hades deemed her eligible enough to start going on S rank missions for the guild. Despite her young age, Meredy had gone on countless missions for the guild, but none of them are too hard for her. Most of them are to gather intel, a skill that Zancrow had imparted to her personally. She had seen combat, but none of her opponents can stand up to her, not when she has been trained personally by both Master Hades and Zancrow, who only went on the most dangerous of missions due to his power and status. Meredy is no stranger to death even if she hadn't killed before. Zancrow had told her to leave the killing to the other members of the guild, which she obeyed. She knew of Zancrow's dislike of killing, which is a well-known fact across the entire guild. Caprico had told her that when Zancrow first joined the guild, many of the grunts laughed at his 'cowardly behaviour' for being unfitting of a dark mage, but a large serving of black flames from Zancrow shut them up quickly. Caprico had admitted to Meredy that in terms of pure raw power, Zancrow had the most destructive magic out of the Seven Kin of Purgatory and he is the only one who can match Ultear, the strongest member aside from Master Hades, in a head-on fight.

Meredy could see Zancrow's face scrunched up slightly in distaste when he heard she will be going on a solo S Class mission on her own, and Meredy felt her heart dropped in disappointment. She fiddled with the sleeves of her shirt, is what she did still not enough?

"She's still too young to be going on these missions, Master Hades. She's only eight-"

"You were also eight when you started to go on solo S Class missions as well, Zancrow. Each and every one of you here are prodigies in the use of magic. You had only a single year to train in your magic before going on such missions then, Meredy had three. She is now a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory like you, why are we treating her any different?"

Meredy could see Zancrow visibly clenching his fist from where he was standing. Meredy looked down onto the floor, did Zancrow think that she is still too weak? Why? After all the training she's been through, it still wasn't enough to gain his acknowledgement?

"If you are so worried about your little protege, then you can accompany her on this mission. However, you can only interfere when it is absolutely necessary. As a member of the Kin, Meredy needs to experience for herself the dangers of an S Class mission. This is final." Master Hade's voice reverberated across the room in the tone that brook no argument. Zancrow lowered his head in acknowledgement at the order he was given.

"Understood, Master Hades."

Meredy lit up with joy at the unexpected arrangement. Her first solo S Class mission! With Zancrow watching her too! Granted he will only be tagging along to supervise her, but they can finally go on a mission together! Just the two of them!

When Master Hades finally left the room the newly formed Seven Kin of Purgatory released a breath they had been holding all these while. Ultear had been made leader due to her strength and seniority in the guild. The position of leader had been a close tossup between her, Zancrow, and Azuma, but Zancrow had immediately declined the position of team leader and Azuma simply wasn't interested. Meredy may be strong, but she is the weakest in strength among the seven of them. Ultear had smiled and told her that it is because she is still young. Many mages only start to reach the peak of their strength in their twenties, and only the strongest of mages are able to grow past their peak and continuing growing their magic throughout their entire lives, like what Master Hades did. Aside from Zancrow, Ultear is the only one who had treated her with genuine kindness and is more open about it with her actions. It's just that they only have time recently to interact with each other due to their previous difference in status and acts of kindness from Ultear to her were rare as a result. They will probably have time to interact more now that they are all part of the same team.

Meredy bounded up to Zancrow excitedly, who still have the same expressionless look on his face as he watched her made her way to him.

"Zan! Zan! Can you believe it?! We are finally going on a mission together!"

The room suddenly fell uncharacteristically silent and Meredy was instinctively on alert. She looked around nervously, did she do anything wrong? Maybe she should have walked up normally instead of jumping around?

"Oh shit." Rustyrose whispered out.

That was the only warning Meredy got as black flames erupted violently from Zancrow and blasted the entire group backwards. Meredy was standing way too close to Zancrow and she would have been fatally injured if Ultear hadn't intervened and got her out of there in time. Rustyrose created a shield that blocked the brunt of the attack and the rest of the Kin hid behind the shield. Zancrow's eye gleamed ominously in a blood-red colour as the flames swirled in rage.

"Zancrow! Snap out of it!"

Azuma's words seemed to snap Zancrow out of whatever had enraged him as he visibly tried to reign in his uncontrollable powers. A few seconds later, the unruly black flames disappeared, leaving a very charred and destroyed room.

"Do. **NOT**. call me Zan ever again." With a harsh glare Zancrow shot at Meredy, he stormed out of the room, leaving the remaining Kin to stare at his departure in silence.

"Th-That was a close one." Kain muttered out as he wiped the sweat collected on his forehead.

"You can say that again." Azuma chipped in as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked towards Meredy, who is sporting burns all over her body and trying very hard to not whimper in pain. "I was expecting for half the ship to be destroyed before we got him under control."

"You got lucky, Meredy." Rustyrose said as he walked towards the exit with his hands in his pocket. "The last time I called Zancrow by that name he nearly burnt me alive, Master Hades had to intervene. You are lucky that Zancrow managed to control himself this time."

"Didn't anyone teach her not to say that particular nickname in Zancrow's presence?" Azuma grumbled as he watched Ultear restoring the room with her magic back to the time before it was partially destroyed.

"From the looks of it, no one had bothered to educate her on this particular issue." Caprico said as he pushed his glasses up with a single finger. "It is an oversight on our part. I'm surprised that it took three years for this mishap to happen, considering that Meredy had no knowledge about Zancrow's peculiarity."

"Save the talk for later, right now we need to treat Meredy's injuries." Ultear said as she carefully carried Meredy in her arms and walked out of the room. "Rustyrose, I need you to bring me the salve. I trust that you still remember what it looks like?"

"Will never forget about it." Rustyrose grumbled as he made a turn towards the infirmary whereas Ultear carried Meredy into her own room. Meredy had gotten her own room the moment she became Zancrow's second-in-command, much to her dismay since it means she will be living separately from Zancrow, but she had shifted to a more luxurious room beside Zancrow's when she was promoted to be a member of the Kin and she now also have her own squad to lead now.

Rustyrose soon arrived bringing a small container, whispered something to Ultear, and left quickly. Ultear locked the door of the room and proceeded to help undress Meredy, showing the full extent of her injuries. Meredy can't help but hiss in pain when Ultear applied the salve onto her burn wounds, but watched in amazement as her wounds healed at a visible rate. Her wounds are still not fully healed, but the results were obvious.

"Stop gawking." Ultear said in amusement. "This salve was created by Zancrow specially to treat the burns inflicted by his magic, the effects it have on the burns are extraordinary. Rustyrose nearly lost his life once when he stupidly called Zancrow by that nickname when we told him not to, and we had to do something about the burns he received lest he died. Master Hades wasn't pleased." Ultear continued talking as she began to wrap Meredy's injuries in bandages after applying the salve. "The flames of a God leaves their mark on their target, it is not something that can be easily removed or cured if you don't have healing magic. No one in this guild is capable of healing magic, it's just that rare. To get around this issue, Zancrow had used his own blood as the main ingredient in creating this salve, successfully saving Rustyrose's life and prevented him from getting permanently disfigured."

Meredy stared at the small bottle of salve in shock. _That_ was created by Zancrow's own blood?! It doesn't even remotely look like blood!

"I don't know how Zancrow managed to create such a salve or how he thought of using his own blood as an ingredient. He never shared anything about it, so don't bother asking." Ultear continued as she finished wrapping up Meredy's injuries. "But what we do know is to never address him by what you just called him. He will fly into an insane rage and the only one who can stop him single-handedly is Master Hades. Even Master Hades don't know why Zancrow had such a reaction and Zancrow never told us why he reacted like that either. The first time that happened he had killed the grunts who had addressed him as such. _Painfully_. We thought it was because the grunts were mocking him as Zancrow had only just joined the guild at that point in time. It was only the incident with Rustyrose that we realised that addressing Zancrow with that nickname is a trigger for him to lose control."

Meredy listened intently as she took the information in. Why had she not know about this in the three years she spent in Grimoire Heart? But more importantly...

"Do you know why Zancrow does not want to be addressed in that manner?"

Ultear gave a sigh as her eyes softened. She helped Meredy in dressing herself as she spoke.

"I have a suspicion, but nothing can be confirmed unless Zancrow tell us the reason himself." Meredy leaned in as she try to listen carefully the words that came out of Ultear's mouth next. "It's probably a similar reason on why I told you to never address me as 'Ur'. Ur was my dead mother's name."

"Dead?" Meredy asked cautiously.

"Some day, I will tell you the story." Ultear said as she helped Meredy to lie down on the bed. "I don't think Zancrow is named after his father or anything like that, but if I were to hazard a guess, someone close to him used to address him by that nickname. That person is probably dead, since we all know that Zancrow don't have any known living relatives left."

Meredy's eyes widened in shock at Ultear's speculation. If what Ultear guessed was correct, then what Meredy just did had just dragged up unpleasant memories for Zancrow.

No wonder he was so angry.

"Zancrow always appeared to be calm, but beneath the calm exterior is a heart filled with rage. You will realise that when you finally see him in battle on S Class missions. It is obvious from the way he fights. I don't know what he is angry at, but whatever it is, either it is someone that he cannot defeat, or is something that cannot be undone. He is constantly forcing himself to remain calm, otherwise, he will be burning everything around him into ash if his emotions are not kept in check. The result of that is his expressionless mask, and it is why he is always like that. It's to protect the people around him from being needlessly burnt. Don't mistake his aloofness for being uncaring. It's obvious Zancrow cares a great deal about you."

Meredy looked down dejectedly.

"But... he never said anything much outside of our lessons and work. He..."

Ultear placed the bottle of salve in Meredy's hand.

"This." She emphasised as she wrapped Meredy's fingers around the bottle. "Is not the same salve that we used for Rustyrose. It is definitely an improved version and this bottle had never been opened before this. Even when I have been in this guild for so long, this is the first time I had seen it. In fact, Rustyrose told me that Zancrow had met him on his way here and instructed him to bring you this particular salve instead of the one we used for Rustyrose." Meredy looked back down at the small bottle she held in her hand. "No matter how Zancrow may act around you, it's obvious that you matter a lot to him. Don't you find it strange that he took a year and a half to complete your education when slightly more than half a year was all he needed? He didn't want you to enter battle at such a young age and bloodied your hands. We are a dark guild, what we _really_ do isn't pretty. The missions you had been on, while hard, are relatively tame in comparison to what we do on a regular basis." Ultear sucked in a breath before continuing. "Don't you find it weird that Zancrow convinced Master Hades to let you participate in the Devil's Pit before going on your first mission? He wanted to delay the time when you went out on your first mission, but you exceeded his expectations and cleared them way too fast. We were expecting you to fail it. He wasn't expecting you to pass with flying colours. None of us did, even if we expected you to survive. Don't you find it strange that all the missions you went on thus far were missions that see very little combat despite your strength? Zancrow had pushed for missions with lesser hazardous elements to be assigned to you instead of the more bloody ones the rest of the Kin went on. Don't you find it out of place that he suddenly taught you how to gather information instead of how to battle? He taught you his knowledge and experience to convince Master Hades that you are better off as an information agent maintaining our information network than as a frontline battler." Ultear cupped Meredy's face with her hands as she spoke softly.

"Don't you see? He wants to keep you safe. You matter a lot to him."

Meredy could not control her feelings any longer and broke down in a sobbing mess as Ultear patted her back comfortingly. To think that after spending so much time trying to get Zancrow's acknowledgement, she was so blind as to not realise that Zancrow had did more for her than she would thought to be possible.

She had no need to earn his acknowledgement, Zancrow had acknowledged her a long time ago. He had did things for her to make her life in a dark guild as comfortable as possible. He gave her knowledge and the ability to protect herself. He taught her how to face adversaries and survive. He tried his very best to ensure her safety even when the jobs dark guilds like theirs took are not even remotely safe.

He had always been watching over her like a silent protector.

"Shh... it will get better, everything will be alright." Ultear comforted her as she lay down beside Meredy, who had curled up as she cried. Ultear gave Meredy a comforting hug.

"Everything will be alright."

* * *

Meredy ran into the guild's infirmary. Due to her injuries, she wasn't able to take on the mission she was given by Master Hades. She wasn't present for it, but Ultear had informed her that Master Hades was furious at Zancrow's behaviour. He punished Zancrow by beating him ruthlessly into the ground and then made him complete the mission alone. On top of that, he gave him another mission to exterminate one of the dark guilds that had refused to submit to their rule as a warning to the other dark guilds.

Both S Class missions were to be completed within a short span of a week.

Meredy only knew of it when Ultear visited her in her room after all is said and done. While the burns have healed, the damage to her body hadn't fully recovered. The salve is good for treating external injuries but the flames of a God is corrosive and eats away at her magic as well as giving her phantom pains. She has to wait until the magic in her body had replenished naturally to have a full recovery. Meredy was bedridden throughout the entire week, unaware of what went on. She had assumed that her mission with Zancrow had been postponed and nobody had informed her of the change in plans.

Zancrow simply cracked open an eye from his position on the infirmary's bed when he sensed Meredy's arrival. He looked at her injuries which was still covered in bandages and salve. Once satisfied with what he saw, he closed his eye after a short while. Meredy stared at Zancrow's beaten and bruised form, his shirt had been removed for the nurses to wrap his injuries with bandages.

Meredy had never seen Zancrow so injured and exhausted before.

"You shouldn't be running around with those injuries of yours."

Meredy was brought out of her thoughts as Zancrow spoke with his eyes still closed.

"Y-You are injured!"

Meredy exclaimed as she rushed to Zancrow's side, but not quite knowing what to do.

"Yes, I can tell." Zancrow replied dryly. "How are your burns? Is the salve working as intended?"

"I'm fine! But you-"

"And I will be fine as well. This isn't the worst I had experienced." Zancrow interrupted as he finally opened his eyes to look at the young girl. "You will find that injuries are a common occurrence when you go on solo S Class missions. You are still too young to be suffering those injuries."

Meredy looked over Zancrow's injuries and immediately knew that he was lying but she didn't voice it out. She can deduce how Zancrow got most of his injuries simply by looking. It seems that Master Hades hadn't been lenient with his punishment, she recognised these marks anywhere.

"I'm-I'm sorry." Meredy cried out as she hugged Zancrow and cried into his chest. "I-I-"

"Not your fault." Zancrow grunted out as he patted Meredy's head. "Should have told you beforehand not to address me by that name. The only people who used to address me like that were my family. They are dead."

Meredy felt even guiltier as she buried her head even further into Zancrow's chest.

"You don't need to feel bad about it." Zancrow reassured her. "I tried to reign in my temper whenever some bumbling idiot tried to get the best of me when he knows my default reaction to it, but the results were never pretty. You didn't know, so it's fine." The both of them let a comfortable silence hang in the air for a short while before Zancrow spoke up again.

"I'm sorry, for everything."

Meredy's head shot up in alarm.

"Zancrow! If anything, I'm the one-"

"No, I'm truly sorry. I wasn't able to stop your city from getting destroyed. I never wish to see another orphan." Zancrow gave another sigh and he just looked so tired, like he had truly given up on trying to live. "You don't understand now, but I will tell you everything when you are older. I promise. I'm not sure if you will forgive me then, but I want to let you know that I'm truly sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Meredy said resolutely as she continued to hug Zancrow. He has always been her pillar of support, even when she was unaware she had one. "You saved me."

Zancrow gave a very hollow laugh.

"Don't speak too soon. I am a true dark mage, you haven't seen half of what I did even if I purposely went on the tamer missions. I had done way worse when I went on the violent ones. You are always too forgiving, Meredy." Zancrow said as he wiped off the tears that flowed down Meredy's cheeks earlier with his thumb. "You aren't suited to be in a dark guild with your kind and bleeding heart. I would have sent you off to a legal guild if I could, but I never had a chance."

"I wouldn't want to even if I could." Meredy mumbled just loud enough for the both of them to hear as she tightens her hug on Zancrow. Zancrow had never been a fan of hugs and she's milking every chance she gets now that he have no strength to dodge or resist. "Cos you wouldn't be there. I just want to be with you."

Meredy repeated her words again in a whisper as if in a prayer, but she's sure Zancrow heard her with his enhanced hearing. God Slayer Magic does give the user enhanced senses, a fact she knew very well from their spars when Zancrow trained her ruthlessly.

"I just want to be with you."


	4. Chapter 4- Tenrou Island

Finally, it's time.

"Zancrow?"

"I'm fine, Meredy. Don't push yourself too hard later."

Meredy looked at me in concern but I reassured her by patting her on the head. Doing so always calm her down.

"I'm fine. Just remember the plan and we will be alright."

The both of us walked into the bridge of the ship where Hades and the rest of the Seven Kin were already gathered.

"Zancrow, Meredy." Caprico greeted us the moment we entered.

"Caprico-san." Meredy greeted back with a smile. I merely nodded back at Caprico in acknowledgement. Meredy looked out through the glass panes as we saw our destination.

"Look!" Meredy pointed excitedly straight ahead where an island is in sight. "The island's in view!"

An island in the middle of the vast ocean appeared in our view. A large tree stood tall in the center of the island with numerous branches growing outwards sustaining an ecosystem on its own. It's like having an island on top of an island. All in all, it looks like a nice vacation spot, only that there's a small problem.

I stand corrected, it grew to be a really big one.

"_What_ is that?"

True to Rustyrose's words, a giant stood in front of our ship, blocking its path towards Tenrou Island.

So this is Makarov, Fairy Tail's third master and one of the members of the Ten Wizard Saints. His power is truly tremendous.

"A giant..." Ultear stated in awe as we looked on at the behemoth of a man. Even I can't help but feel immense respect for the power Makarov is emitting. He deserves the title of a Wizard Saint.

"**I won't let you go any further.**" Makarov's voice boomed out as he stared down our airship.

Without further warning, Makarov punched and demolished a section of our ship as if it was made out of cardboard. Everyone in the ship tumbled around from the impact.

Damn it, I really hate being tossed around like this.

"The starboard sides's been demolished!" One of the grunts cried out. "He crushed through the reinforced armour like it was paper!"

"Increase the speed!" Hades barked out his order as he remained calm on his throne. "Magical convergence cannon Jupiter: Fire!"

With a screeching sound, the cannon at the front of the ship blasted itself straight at Makarov, who blocked it with his left forearm.

What the bloody hell. This guy ain't human. I don't think there's anyone in Grimoire Heart save Hades who can stand up to a Jupiter cannon and come out with nothing more than a bloodied arm like Makarov did.

With a shout, Makarov raised his left leg and kicked at the ship, causing more destruction.

"Ultear."

Upon Hades's order, Ultear utilised her Arc of Time and restored the ship back to its former state before it got ripped by Makarov, reducing his earlier efforts to naught.

"Caprico, take everyone on board to the island." Hades said as he slowly stood up from his seat.

"What about you, Master Hades?"

"I'll take care of Makarov."

With that, Caprico used his magic to store the entire fighting force of Grimoire Heart in small bubbles with a single clap and flew out of the ship with his jetpack.

I closed my eyes and took a breath. I have planned for this day for years. If everything goes as planned, Meredy will no longer need to be a dark mage and will finally be able to live the rest of her life as a legal mage. I will have my revenge and Hades will be dead by my own hands. Fairy Tail will live the missing seven years that they were deprived in canon, it will be my thanks to them in advance for taking care of Meredy in my absence after this is over.

Hades _will_ die today, I will end him with my own hands. His original death by Zeref's hands is too merciful a way for him to go. Hades deserves so much more pain for what he did to my family. I still cannot say for sure that I can kill him, Hades is just that strong. But this is the best and last chance I'm going to get. I can finally have my revenge.

Even if I failed along the way, at least I can take solace in the fact that Zeref will appear and kill him later if the storyline from the plot still holds true.

Everything ends here.

Dad, Mum, Ria.

Wait for me.

I'm coming.

* * *

"Haah!"

With a flying kick, Natsu sent one of the goons crashing into the rest of the other goons. This is fun!

A flaming bullet of fire shot itself towards Natsu and he grinned. Just what he had been waiting for!

"Thanks for the meal!"

"What!"

"This guy! He...!"

"He ate fire?!"

"Then he is the-"

Natsu allowed himself a grin before launching himself at the group of mages.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

With both his arms bathed in flames, Natsu obliterated the entire group of riff-raffs. Heh, none of them got anything on him.

"Enough."

With that simple command, the group parted to let a single individual walk through them.

"Master Zancrow!"

"I'll take him, the rest of you go and search for our objective."

The blond hair guy, now known as Zancrow stood in front of the group and studied Natsu with a careful eye as if he was searching for something.

"What are you guys waiting for?! Move it!"

With a squeak of "Yes sir!" from the group of riff-raffs, they disbanded and disappeared within the thick foliage of Tenrou Island, leaving the blond hair mage alone with Natsu, Wendy, and the exceeds.

"So you two are two out of the three Dragon Slayers in your guild?"

"Hell yeah we are! What's your damn problem coming to our sacred island like that unannounced?!"

"My problem?" Zancrow's form trembled slightly before black flames came to life and surrounded his body like a shroud. "Your guild is the problem." The entirety of his right arm was covered in those black flames as he cocked it back. "If you guys had kept a better eye on your god damn mages..."

"...MY FAMILY WOULDN'T HAVE DIED!"

The entire group of Fairy Tail mages were in a state of shock at that statement, but Natsu recovered quickly as the torrent of black flames were sent crashing towards their location. Natsu stood in between the black flames and his nakama, determined to protect them. He will listen to blondie's story later, he must be mistaken. Fairy Tail mages don't kill unless strictly for self-defense, it has been their iron-clad rule since the guild's founding.

"Flames don't work on me!" Natsu exclaimed as he opened his mouth to suck them in.

"Natsu-san! Stop! Those flames are giving me a bad feeling!"

Wendy's warning was too late as the explosion from the flames caught Natsu in it, changing the landscape in an instant.

"Don't get too cocky, Salamander. There's no such thing as a perfect immunity to anything. These are flames that even Dragon Slayers can't eat." Zancrow's eye shone ominously as he walked towards Natsu's fallen form. "I am a God Slayer."

"Uoooohhhh!"

Natsu sprang up as he tried to clobber Zancrow with his fists but he blocked every single one of them effortlessly.

"God Slayer my ass! Are you saying that God taught that to you?!"

"No, I don't care what this power is called as long as it can kill that one person I have been dreaming to kill for ages. You are just the perfect warm-up practice."

"Hah!" Natsu scoffed as be disengaged from Zancrow and leapt backwards, putting some distance between the both of them. "I learned mine from a _REAL_ dragon, Dragon Slayer magic! Your rip-off magic won't be able to defeat me!"

"Suit yourself. Fire God's..."

"Fire Dragon's..."

"KAGUTSUCHI!/ BRILLIANT FLAME!"

To everyone's else horror, Natsu was pushed back and crashed painfully into the rocks.

"Anything else you want to try before I pummel you six feet under?" Zancrow stated nonchalantly as he dusted his hands. "I have a tight schedule to follow, you are starting to bore me."

"You...jerk!" Natsu cursed as he quickly got onto his feet before sucking in a deep breath.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

A brilliant blast of flames was released out of Natsu's mouth as they directed themselves onto Zancrow's location. Zancrow just lifted an eyebrow, looking suitably unimpressed and responded by opening his mouth.

He ate Natsu's flames.

"No...way..."

"Fall before the might of a God." Zancrow whispered as he licked his lips and sucked in a breath as well.

"Fire God's Bellow!"

The resulting destructive power blasted Natsu towards the dense foliage of the island. Wendy and the exceeds could only stare on in shock at the power exuded from the dark mage.

"Natsu!" Happy cried out as he tried to fly to his partner's location but Pantherlily held him back.

"Don't! That guy is still there!"

"I wonder if that idiot got himself killed in that attack." Wendy heard Zancrow murmur under his breath, she wouldn't have caught on to what he said if it wasn't for her enhanced hearing, thanks to her Dragon Slayer magic. "Maybe I should have toned it down a little?"

Zancrow began to walk off towards where Natsu was supposedly blasted to, not even sparing the other four members of Fairy Tail a glance.

"Don't hurt Natsu-san!"

With a newfound courage Wendy didn't even know she possessed, Wendy dashed towards Zancrow while cloaking herself in wind.

"Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

To her absolute horror, Zancrow simply caught her fist without even using his magic, the same expressionless look is still on his face.

"Are you quite done?"

Zancrow released his grip on Wendy and pushed her off, causing the already injured girl to yelp in pain as she fell onto the floor. Her previous injuries she sustained from fighting Azuma is getting too painful for her to fight properly.

"Get away from Wendy!"

Carla hissed out as she tried to swipe at Zancrow with her paws but he merely knocked her into the ground with a well placed hammer punch.

"Carla! Wendy!"

"Attack me one more time and I won't hesitate to kill you off for real." Zancrow growled out as his magic rolled out in waves, paralyzing Wendy and the exceeds in fear, leaving them a trembling mess. His point made, Zancrow turned around and stalked off towards Natsu's location, leaving the Sky Dragon Slayer and the three exceeds staring at his back and disappearing into the woods.

"Monster." Carla whispered out as she shivered in fear.

"C-Carla?"

"His future... I can't see it." Carla continued talking. "I-It's like... he's coming here to die."

* * *

"So there you are. Is that Makarov?"

Natsu whipped his head around to look at the God Slayer who had arrived onto the scene, looking bored out of his mind as he leaned against one of the large trees that dotted the entire island.

"Stop... Natsu... You are no match for him." Makarov groaned weakly from where he lay on the ground, trying to persuade Natsu to make a run for it. It didn't seem like Natsu heard anything the old man said, his whole body is trembling in cold sweat as his eyes locked onto the God Slayer.

"This is...fear?" Natsu whispered out as he looked down on his trembling hands.

"It could be." The God Slayer answered Natsu while crossing his arms and gazing lazily at the sky as he leaned against a tree with his back to it. Makarov looked on as the dark mage looked totally unbothered by what is happening in front of him. "I don't really want to fight any of you, to be honest, but it is necessary if I want to kill that man. I need to get his eyes off me. Thank you for that, by the way." His gaze turned to Makarov, who is bleeding out on the floor. "My only beef is with Makarov and your first master. But Makarov is already on death's door thanks to Hades and your first master isn't around anymore, so technically my business with your guild is done. I needed that fight earlier to get Hades's eye off my back."

Huh? What?

Both Makarov and Natsu looked on in confusion at the words the God Slayer spewed out. Just what is going on?

"Thanks to our little scuffle earlier, Hades's eye is now turned elsewhere. Sorry for beating you up like that earlier but I had appearances to keep up. Help me convey my apologies to that little girl who was with you earlier, won't you? The one called Wendy. I think I traumatised her."

"You..." Makarov had a ton of questions for the God Slayer. This youngling isn't in leagues with Precht, that much is obvious. But what is he planning?

"Sorry Natsu, this will hurt a little. But I have something to say to your guild master in private."

"Huh?"

It was the only intelligent reply from Natsu before Zancrow suddenly appeared behind him and knocked him out with a chop to the back of his neck. He lowered the unconscious Dragon Slayer onto the ground gently before facing Makarov.

What insane speed.

"I believe this is the first time we have met face-to-face, Makarov. I apologise that we couldn't meet under better circumstances. My name is Zancrow."

Makarov coughed a few times due to the extent of his injuries but his gaze remained fixed on the God Slayer.

"I will get rid of Hades, but you have to make sure you and your guild members pull out of the island as soon as possible. I know this sounds like a ridiculous lie, but I have been planning this for twelve years. The perfect time for me to strike Hades down is finally within reach. I can finally enact my plan to take him down for good."

Makarov's eye widened at what the young mage is insinuating. His mind went through the possibilities of why such a young man is subjecting himself to such acts. A few possibilities came to mind, but upon seeing the look in Zancrow's eyes, there's only one possibility left that he could think of.

"You... you are doing this for revenge."

Zancrow's eyes softened at the statement Makarov made and just like that, the mask that he had been wearing all this while dropped.

"Yes."

"You don't have to do this alone! Urgh!" Makarov wheezed out, but the injuries he suffered is simply too much.

"Easy there, old man. I just want you to hear me out. It concerns the lives of your guild members."

Makarov looked at Zancrow and saw the sincerity in his eyes. Makarov hated it. He had made it his life mission to save young mages from spiraling down the dark path. This young man here is proof that he had failed.

"Wipe that look off your face, I don't need your pity. Look, Acnologia, the dragon of apocalypse, will be coming. You need to get your guild members off the island asap. Grimoire Heart is looking for Zeref, who had somehow made this island his little hiding hole. Ignore Zeref, and focus on ensuring that your guild members survive. There's no way Grimoire Heart can contain Zeref, he is not a legendary wizard for nothing. The real problem is that wherever Zeref goes, Acnologia tends to follow. It's just a matter of time, the collective evil our guild brought along is like a shining beacon to that damn dragon. That's why you have to make sure you get your guild off that island before that bastard dragon arrives. No mortal can stand up to Acnologia. Your sacred ground is about to become one hell of a battlefield."

Makarov stared on in shock at the news. If it was on any other day he would have brushed it off as utter nonsense. However, the way Zancrow spoke about this somehow made him believe that everything about Zeref and Acnologia is real.

If these legends were real, then his children really need to get out of here pronto.

"Of course, I'm not giving out this information for free, I also have a favour to ask. There's a girl in Grimoire Heart, her name's Meredy. Pink hair, thirteen years old this year, uses a form of Lost Magic called Maguilty Sense. I want you to take her into your guild. She still have a pure heart despite being raised in a dark guild. I made sure that she stayed off the council's radar all these years so that she will have a chance to walk in the light and I want it to stay that way. I want you to help me protect her from dark guilds and the Magic Council for the help and information I'm giving to you. Grimoire Heart will be disbanded today, I give you my word. However, Meredy needs a better place to go to after all this is said and done. She needs to experience what living life in the light is like." Zancrow took a pause as a weary look filled his eyes. "She's just another victim as well."

Makarov slowly nodded as he processed Zancrow's words. "If what you said is true, then you have my word."

Zancrow let out an audible sigh of relief. "That's good then." With a flick of his wrist, he produced a small bottle from his pocket and poured the liquid within it on Makarov's wounds.

"This will allow you to stay alive and awake until help arrives from your guild. I hope you remember our promise, Makarov."

"What about you?"

"I am already a dead man walking. I appreciate your gesture, but I cannot be saved. If I could I will erase Meredy's memories about me, but that is impossible since her whole life has been revolved around me. She got picked up by the wrong guild. Fairy Tail looks like a good place for her to start anew, so I decided to gamble and leave her into your care." He slid a ring onto one of Makarov's finger with a small piece of lacrima embedded in it. "This will help you find Meredy, just channel a little of your magic into it to locate her should you need it."

Zancrow stood up and adjusted both Makarov and the unconscious Natsu into a comfortable position.

"Remember our promise. I will go and take out Hades, you make sure your guys get off this island and help me take care of Meredy."

"Wait-"

Zancrow disappeared into the woods before Makarov could say anything else. He looked at the ring which Zancrow had put on the pinky finger of his left hand. It seems like he wasn't hallucinating after all.

He really needs to get pissed drunk after this crisis. He's too old for this shit.

After they survive this ordeal, of course.

* * *

"Ah!"

"Juvia!"

"You are 13th place."

Erza gritted her teeth as she requip to her Heaven's Wheel Armour and tried to slash at the little pink-haired girl who is also their opponent.

"What are you ranking?"

"The order in which I've decided to kill you in."

The two mages engaged in a clash of swords and Erza tried to engage in a conversation with the opponent once more, trying to find out their motives.

"Third place is Gildarts, but he is not on the island anymore." Erza listened in quietly as she defended the rain of swords from her opponent. "Second place is Makarov, but Hades had beat me to it."

Erza was perplexed at this statement and voiced it out.

"Master is second place?"

"First place is Mavis Vermillion." The swords swirled angrily around Meredy before lashing out at Erza. "I will find her grave and I will rip it to shreds."

"Our first master is already dead!" Erza shouted back as she defended herself. "What grudge do you have against someone who died so many years ago?!"

"It's because of her ineptitude that she allowed him to walk free." Meredy's glare got harsher as her magic rose in response to he emotions. "It's because she is so inept, that it allowed _him_ to hurt Zancrow!"

Meredy's swords surrounded Erza in a circle as Meredy continued to shout in rage.

"It's because Mavis and Makarov couldn't keep an eye on HIM, that it allowed him to kill everyone that Zancrow held dear! They are the reason why Zancrow has been hurting for so many years!"

With a final shout, Meredy's swords honed in on Erza but a whirlpool of water blocked it off.

"_Huff... huff..._ Erza-san, are you alright?"

"Juvia!"

"I'm alright!"

Meredy merely looked at the duo in contempt and pointed a finger at the both of them. Erza and Juvia tensed at the action, but a look of surprise suddenly appeared on Meredy's face.

"Zancrow?"

Meredy held up two fingers to her temple with her free hand as she appear to converse with someone else via telepathy. Erza and Juvia used this time to recover, trying to figure out the kind of magic their opponent uses.

"What?... I... No! I mean... Let me help too, Zancrow! But!... Just let me help!"

Meredy appeared to be frustrated at the conversation she is having with this person called Zancrow. Erza filed that name away for a later thought.

"...Fine."

With that, Meredy ended her telepathic conversation with Zancrow. She cast Erza and Juvia an angry look before calling off her magic, much to their surprise.

"My fight with Fairy Tail is over. Count yourself lucky."

Meredy left the moment she finished her sentence, leaving Erza and Juvia to stare at her departing figure in confusion and unable to make heads or tails of this bizarre situation.

"What is going on?"

"I don't know, Juvia." Erza admitted. "I'm just glad that this is one less opponent to face."

Erza helped Juvia stand on her feet as they began their long trek back to their camp.

"Erza-san?"

"I will bring you back to camp to treat your injuries, then I will go out to look for the rest of our nakama." Erza told Juvia.

"Juvia wonders if Gray-sama is alright..."

"He will be. Everyone will be."

* * *

Hades closed his eyes as he waited for news of Zeref to come in. The magic signal of Zancrow, Meredy, Kain, and Caprico had disappeared one by one, with Meredy's signal being the most recent one to disappear. Bluenote had sneaked out upon the disappearance of Meredy's magic signal, much to Hades's regret.

"Heh, Makarov did raise some fine soldiers but none of them will be able to face Bluenote and survive. I'm sorry, Makarov."

Hades stood up from his seat to look at the scenery outside. How many years has it been since he last stepped onto this island?

"Mavis, Yuri, Warrod. Forgive me."

Hades stood with his eyes closed, remembering the times when everything was not as complicated, where he truly believed that camaraderie was all he needed.

How foolish he was.

An acute pain in his chest brought him back to reality as he coughed up blood. What?! What's going on?!

A column of black flames erupted within the airship and burnt a section of it into charcoal within seconds, Zancrow walked out of the destruction, a murderous gleam in his eyes.

"Zancrow! What is the meaning of this?!" How did Zancrow sneaked up back onto the ship undetected?!

Zancrow merely gave a psychotic grin, the rage in his eyes intensified as if he would burn a hole through Hades's body if he could.

"Revenge."

Hades's mind shut down temporarily as he tried to understand what Zancrow is saying. Revenge? Revenge for what?! Zancrow had always been one of his best soldiers and his best informant when it comes to matters of the underworld. His results are stellar. Because of that, Hades had always treated Zancrow with the best he could offer. He let Zancrow get away with things that other members of the guild would not be able to. Zancrow is just that valuable to Grimoire Heart. Why would Zancrow want to usurp him?! Revenge? Revenge for what?!

"That eye." Zancrow pointed a finger at Hades's right eye. "Ria's eye. I'm taking it back today. Twelve years, I have waited for twelve years for this day. It's time I send you down to hell to meet Ria and Mum."

Hades's eye widened in realisation at what Zancrow is referring to. How did he not see the similarities before?!

"You are related to that little girl who can use Living Magic back at Azalea."

"Her name's Ria. She's my little sister." Zancrow stated as black flames roared to life around him. "One of the people I have sworn to protect. One of the reasons why this life was worth living. She was my purpose. She was screaming for me the entire time when you ripped her eye out of her head, and I _couldn't do. a. fucking. thing._"

"So you want my life?"

"I want more than just your life." Zancrow spoke as the intensity of his flames grew stronger. "I want you dead and groveling at Ria's and Mum's feet in the depths of hell."

"I want to burn your very soul."

* * *

**AN: Have I ever mentioned that RC is going to be a short story? In fact, I have everything all planned out in my free time and the entire story will only take about 10 chapters, give or take. I'm only going to cover the plot up till the GMG arc as I don't see Zancrow making any more differences in the story beyond that. Also, t****his story isn't the story where you will see exciting fights frequently, RC just isn't that kind of story. So if such stories is what you are expecting from RC, then I'm sorry, RC is not the story for you.**

**All I can say is that you can expect several plot twists here and there that I'm sure you guys will not be expecting. You guys might have to wait for it though. This story is to explore Zancrow's and Meredy's growth as a person and the change in their characters before and after the Tenrou arc. I'm not a fan of stuffs like training arc or big fights that don't serve any purposes beyond retelling the original story so don't expect much of these in any of my work. If I want to write, I want to write something no one had done before or to write something that is rarely explored. I want to try something different.**

**In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the story thus far.**

**And I really hope I can pass my mid-term test two days from now. LMAO**


	5. Chapter 5- Revenge

Zancrow and Hades exchanged devastating blows as their battle tore the remainder of the airship into smithereens. Hades found himself getting pushed back by Zancrow, whose rage fueled his power drastically. It doesn't help that Zancrow had destroyed his Devil's Heart as well before the fight, greatly diminishing his magic.

"DIE!"

With a monstrous howl, Zancrow tried to hammer Hades down into the ground with both of his fists combined together but Hades managed to slip out of the blow before it connected. A large flaming crater was left in Zancrow's mad quest for vengeance.

"You traitor! After all these years, after what I did for you, _this_ is how you repay me?!"

Hades employed his Chain magic to try and ensnare Zancrow but he had apparently thought of a counter to his spell.

"Fire God's Flaming Whip!"

Black tendrils of flame lashed out from Zancrow's arms as he waved it like whips, successfully batting away Hades's Chain magic.

"I have studied every magic you have at your disposal, Hades! I have a counter for every single one of your spells! Your life ends here today!" Zancrow cried out as he sent a massive explosion of black flames at Hades. "Hand over your life!"

A string of magic formulas suddenly surrounded Zancrow as they shone brightly, a premonition before they explode.

"Amaterasu, eh?"

True to Zancrow's suspicion, the Amaterasu spell engulfed him in a huge explosion, kicking out a huge cloud of dust.

"You are too many years behind to be facing me in combat, boy!" Hades shouted out in rage as he walked out from the crater where he once lay from Zancrow's attacks. "Even in my weakened state, there's no way you can beat me!"

"I don't need to beat you, I just need to murder you. _Painfully_."

Hades barely had time to block the strike Zancrow launched from behind him as he was pushed back once again from Zancrow's relentless onslaught. How did Zancrow got past his guard?!

"Fire God's Scythe!"

A scythe of black flames slashed the remainder of the airship into two as Hades ducked down to avoid being decapitated. Hades pointed his index and middle finger at Zancrow and sent a piercing bullet of magical energy at him.

To his surprise, the bullet was burnt off by the intense heat around Zancrow even before it reached him.

"Sneak attacks like that won't work on me, you scum! Fire God's Steaming Murder!"

With an angry roar, Zancrow sent numerous massive fireballs of scorching black flames at Hades who is now forced to run. Being a charred mummy is not on his to-do list for today.

Hades clicked his tongue in annoyance as he ran through the list of options he have in his weakened state. Sadly, there weren't many. The Devil's Heart had been destroyed. It was his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, a weakness that Zancrow had exploited to its fullest effect. He will have to rectify it after he snap Zancrow's neck later.

Hades ripped off his eyepatch, revealing the Demon's Eye. His appearance changed as his hair, beard, and mustache started to jut out and a demonic aura began to manifest around him even in his weakened state.

"That was Ria's power you bitch." Zancrow spoke through gritted teeth as he witnessed Hades creating powerful demons from the rubble. "Don't you dare defile it with your dirty magic!"

The demons Hades created jumped at Zancrow in an attempt to maul him alive. Zancrow created a thin blade made of flames as he charged in to meet the demons head-on.

"Fire God's Edge!"

With an impressive show of swordsmanship, Zancrow destroyed the demons Hades created with the sword he created out of black flames.

"Ria's magic is a beautiful thing! Something which she uses to breathe life into non-living objects! Don't you dare create such monstrosities with her magic!"

"An ignorant fool like you wouldn't know how valuable her magic is! Her sacrifice was needed for us to reach the grand world of magic! Can't you see it?! Only I can use your sister's magic to its full potential!"

"YOU BASTARD!"

The former master and student clashed in a furious dance of blows and magic with both trying to land a fatal hit onto the other.

"I have to applaud you for fooling me for twelve whole years." Hades commended as he dodged a swipe from Zancrow. "You and Ultear have always been my best students, it's a shame things have to turn out this way."

"Ultear wasn't even on your side to begin with, she's probably running off with Zeref as we speak." Zancrow replied as he burnt off Hades's magic chains that were trying to capture him. "You have failed, Hades. Now just stay still and let me kill you."

Hades pushed Zancrow back with a powerful blast of magic. What?! Ultear has betrayed him as well?!

"Die! Fire God's Judgement!"

A massive fist made up of unholy black flames materialised above Hades as it smashed down on his location. Black flames rained down on the both of them as they burn furiously in their immediate surroundings. It was then Hades sees it. A chance to turn the tide.

Using the resulting smoke as cover, Hades quickly dashed towards Zancrow and slipped past his guard. Hades tried to slit his neck. He didn't quite succeed as Zancrow dodged at the last minute, but he managed to take out Zancrow's right eye for good.

Zancrow howled in pain and Hades took the opportunity to grab onto Zancrow's throat and lift him into the air. Zancrow thrashed about trying to burn Hades, but every attempt in doing so was thwarted. It wasn't long before Hades had him all wrapped up with his Chain magic, still lifting his wayward student up in the air by his throat with just a single hand.

"On account that you were my student, I will grant you one last wish. Any last words, boy?"

Zancrow merely cracked open his remaining eye and gave Hades an insane smile. A smile that gave even Hades the chills just by seeing it.

"I win, motherfucker."

A spear of black flames pierced into Hades from his back into the position where his heart once was. Hades tried to dispel the flames, but found himself unable to do so, the black flames eat away at his magic reserves far too quickly even before he can call upon them.

"H-How?" Hades sputtered out as he fell onto the floor onto his knees with his hands as support, trying in vain to stand up once again. "I am the mighty Hades! So how? How did you managed to defeat me? What are these flames?"

There wasn't a reply from Zancrow as he burnt off the chains that were restricting him. He was faking his capture all along? He could get out of there anytime he wished?

Zancrow walked up to the fallen Hades as he whispered the name of his technique.

"Fire God Slayer's Secret Art: Amaterasu's Fury." Zancrow continued to make his way towards Hades and lifted Hades up by the throat this time, an ironic way of treating his former master given that their positions are now switched. "Even before learning God Slayer magic, my latent magic to begin with was the ability to control any type of fire with my eyes alone. Doesn't matter if I have one or two working eyes. As long as I can see it, I can control it. I used the flames burning at your feet and transformed it into a spear to impale you. Why else do you think I purposely left the airship burning in multiple places without extinguishing the flames? Look at the amount of black flames around us. This is my domain, you never had the chance to walk out of here alive to begin with the moment you allowed me to set up our battlefield as I wish. The flames of Amaterasu does not burn physical objects but instead eats away at magic, using magic of its foe as its fuel. You are about to be depleted of your magic as we speak, and your magic will be gone when Amaterasu had run its course." To prove his point, multiple spikes of black flames emerged from Hades's body, causing him to scream out in pain.

"The best part? The victim will experience _a lot_ of pain. This is my best spell in dealing against you after experimenting on the possibilities of my magic. How do you feel now? Are you in pain?"

"Let...me...go..."

"So you _are_ in pain. Good." Zancrow said as he lifted Hades higher into the air with his left hand still clamped on Hades's throat. "This is the exact same way you took my sister's life, I remembered it. Ria was screaming at you to let her go, but did you listen?" Zancrow continued to ramble, ignoring Hades's pained cry. "She was screaming for Mum and I to save her. Mum was dead thanks to you, and I couldn't do a damn thing to save Ria from where I was, stuck under all the rubble. I can do it now." Zancrow used his free hand to reach for his own damaged right eye and with a sickening squelch, ripped it out of his own socket before burning it to ash. He didn't flinch even once throughout this entire process.

"I told you. My sister's eye, I am getting it back one way or another today."

Zancrow raised his other hand as flames blacker than what he had ever produced roared to life. The flames morphed themselves into a shape of a gungnir as Zancrow pointed the tip at Hades.

Hades can feel his life being sucked out by the flames just by being in close proximity to it. What is this?!

"This is another technique of mine. Fire God Slayer's Secret Art: Odin's Gungnir. These are flames that burn your very soul, it won't physically burn you similar to how Amaterasu's Fury work, but once it is done with you, your soul will be reduced to nothing. You will effectively be taken out from the cycle of life and death. There will be no past, no present, and definitely no future for you."

Hades squirmed furiously and cried out in protest to his predicament, but Zancrow didn't loosen his grip on him as Hades flailed helplessly. The black flames of Amaterasu pierced through his body from the inside once more in the form of black flaming spikes as it continued to burn away at his magic, reducing him to a state where he is as harmless as a puppy.

Zancrow brought the flaming gungnir closer to Hades a few inches away from his face.

"Farewell, Hades. May your soul be damned for eternity."

* * *

Natsu, Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Lucy ran towards the location of Grimoire Heart's airship together with the exceeds. From what they knew, the master of Grimoire Heart is on that airship. Their plan is simple, they go up there, beat Grimoire Heart's master black and blue, and prevent the dark guild from inflicting more harming on their nakamas.

In the end, they didn't have to put their plan into action. The airship had been reduced to a burning mess the moment they arrived. The entire of the airship is covered in black flames, eating away at the ship and reducing it to ash.

"What the hell?!"

"It's that blonde guy! I can smell him!" Natsu shouted as he dashed towards the burning airship. "He's in there! Gramps told us that he is an ally, come on!"

Unable to stop Natsu, the rest of the group could only follow him into the burning wreckage. They soon found the God Slayer holding an old man by the throat. He noticed their presence and turned around to face them.

"Oh, it's you guys."

The group could not help but let out a cry of shock at Zancrow's bloodied form. To make things worse, he had a missing eye out of his right eye socket, and the emptiness of the bloody hole is staring right at them.

"Y-You are injured!" Wendy cried out. "Let me-"

"No. Stay there."

With a wave of his free hand, the other still clamped on Hades's lifeless body, he created a wall of black flames that blocked off the Fairy Tail members, preventing them from reaching him.

"Oi! Stop being stubborn! Gramps told me that you are on our side! Now get your ass over here so Wendy can treat your injuries!" Natsu exclaimed as he tried to go through that wall of black flames, but he hissed in pain and jumped backwards the moment he came into contact with it. Damn it! He never thought he would be bested by another Fire mage in his life! The world is definitely a big place.

"Hey, is he doing what I think he's doing?"

Everyone looked at Zancrow through the black flames at Lucy's words. While the flames prevented them from going through, they can still see what is going on at the other side of the flaming wall.

The Fairy Tail members let out a shout of shock as they witnessed Zancrow ripped out the old man's right eye straight from his socket. Zancrow stared at the eye with a forlorn look on his face and tears streamed down from his other working eye. He inserted the eye he ripped out from Hades into his empty right eye socket much to the shock of the Fairy Tail members. A hiss of smoke later, the new eye sits perfectly in Zancrow's skull. To their surprise, the new eye looked similar to his left eye.

Zancrow burnt Hades's corpse into ash within seconds and dispelled the wall of flames.

"Alright, now where were we?"

"You killed him! You bastard! That guy's your guild master, isn't he?! Even if he is a dark mage, you shouldn't-"

"That bastard killed my sister. I have been waiting for this for twelve years, to burn his soul into nothing." The Fairy Tail mages were shut into silence just with that single phrase. "Is it wrong to desire revenge? Oh, for your info, this guy's real name is Precht Gaebolg, Fairy Tail's second master, to be more specific." He pointed to the ashes that was once Precht Gaebolg and walked up to stare at Natsu's fuming figure only centimeters apart. "If your guild had kept a better eye on him, thousands of lives wouldn't have been lost. My Mum wouldn't have died, my sister would still be_ alive_ with her eyes _in her own head_."

"Y-You are lying." Erza tried to defend their guild's honour as she tried to process the ramifications of such revelations. "There's no way-"

"Go ask Makarov." Zancrow cut in. "Speaking of which, bring me to him. I have honoured my end of the bargain, it's time he honoured his."

* * *

Makarov looked up from where he is in the camp which was set up to house their injured members. The invasion brought about by Grimoire Heart is now over if the appearance of Zancrow is any indication.

"Makarov."

"Zancrow." Makarov greeted the Fire mage which was previously affiliated with Grimoire Heart. Team Natsu walked behind them with a wary look in their eyes. "Have you got your injuries treated?"

It is a valid question, in Makarov's opinion. The young man is covered in blood from head to toe. There's even blood leaking out from his right eye socket.

"Zancrow! Go get your injuries treated!" A young girl with pink hair said as she fussed over him. Makarov assumes this is Meredy. "You can't be fine after-"

"Meredy." Zancrow interrupted. "We don't have much time left."

Meredy bit her lower lip as she looked at Zancrow in frustration. She had helped Gray in releasing Zeref from Ultear's grasp, just as what Zancrow had asked her to help him with. Meredy didn't ask why, she have full faith in Zancrow. She had knew of Zancrow's true goal a year ago when they were on a mission together. Zancrow had detoured and brought her to his birthplace, now in ruins, and told her of his past. He asked for her help in killing Hades.

Meredy agreed. Zancrow needn't ask, she would do whatever he requested of her in a heartbeat, even if it means giving up her life.

The twist came when Zancrow had also admitted to the real reason why Meredy's hometown was annihilated, and that he is sorry for being unable to stop it for happening. Meredy was shocked at the revelation, that Grimoire Heart was the reason why she became an orphan. Zancrow even pressed a dagger into her hand, telling her that should she wish to take his life using the dagger, he would offer it anytime, to her.

_"Even if I did not kill the townsfolk with my own hands, I am equally guilty. I did not raise a finger to help when I could so that my cover would not be blown, all for my selfish desire for revenge. The only person I mustered up enough courage to save was you, and even then it was because you reminded me too much of how Ria had died. Even right till the very end, I am a selfish person. I won't ask for your forgiveness because I don't deserve one. I have let innocents die even if I wasn't directly responsible for their deaths simply by choosing to watch them die. All I want now is a chance to apologise." Zancrow took in a breath before continuing. "I wanted to tell you everything after I had killed Hades but I realised that I may not have the chance to do so. Hades is too strong, I may not come out alive in my quest for vengeance. I want to tell you everything personally before the final stage is set. I had miscalculated. In the end, you were more important than my need for revenge. If it means getting your forgiveness, I am willing to give up on my revenge, I am even willing to offer my life right here, right now."_

Meredy was in a state of shock as she tried to digest the news that Zancrow dropped on her. _A lie. Everything had been a lie._ That was what she thought. In a fit of rage, she charged at him with the dagger in hand and aimed at his heart, just like how Zancrow had taught her during their lessons on handling weapons. Memories of their time together flashed through her mind and regardless of that, she steeled herself to plunge her dagger straight into his beating heart. However, upon seeing the look of regret in Zancrow's eyes, she dropped the dagger at the last moment and hugged him instead.

_"Meredy?"_

_"I know, I know! It was you who brought me up! It was you who taught me how to survive! It was you that protected me from the shadows! That fact doesn't change! The feelings, the actions, the things you did for my sake, they are all real!" Meredy cried even louder as she sobbed onto Zancrow's clothes. "I..I forgive you! I'll never bring this up again! You didn't kill off the people in my town, you never killed innocents if you can help it, I know that! I have been watching you for years! You never have to apologise because there's nothing to apologise for!" Meredy could feel Zancrow's tears dripping down onto her head. "So don't leave me alone! Please! I beg you! Don't leave me alone!"_

The two of them never spoke of this issue again.

The two of them also reconciled and got even closer to each other than before although they were careful in not letting anyone else from Grimoire Heart realise that they were hatching a plan to kill Hades. Meredy still wanted to help Zancrow, but he was adamant in putting her out of harm's way and gave her the safest mission to do.

_"I need you to prevent Ultear or Hades from acquiring Zeref. For the sake of the world, no one should obtain Zeref and learn what he knew. Even if I can't have my revenge, I don't want Hades to reach his dream of creating the so-called utopia. Be careful, Zeref releases a wave of dark magic that can kill you in an instant. Don't get too close to him."_

_Meredy narrowed her eyes as Zancrow got himself lost in thoughts in trying to find the perfect way to kill Hades painfully. Meredy will support Zancrow wholeheartedly in bringing Hades down, but this endeavour is too dangerous for Zancrow with only the two of them. If only there were allies that they can count on..._

_"Zancrow?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Must we do this alone? Maybe we can find someone else to help us?"_

_"I only trust you. Who else are you proposing anyway?"_

_"Uh... Maybe Ultear? You did say that her goals are not totally aligned with Hades." _

_Another reason for that suggeestion is because Ultear is the only person in the guild that treated Meredy with any kind of sincerity. Meredy wished for her to be on their side as well, if at all possible._

_"Ultear is a self-serving person." Zancrow closed his eyes and rubbed his temple with his knuckle to ease the stress accumulating within his head. "She wanted Zeref to reach the Ultimate Magic World, which is total bullshit, in my opinion. Ultear's goals only align with Hades as far as locating Zeref. From there on, I'm sure she will try to steal Zeref away for her own gains. She trusts no one but herself."_

_"I don't see the problem here, Zancrow."_

_"Ultear wanted to reach the Ultimate Magic World to complete her Arc of Time so that she can change her past. She wanted a future with her mother. For that end, she will sacrifice anything. That's why she is able to commit all the atrocities she did since she thinks she can undo them once she completes her Arc of Time. Do you see the flaw in that? The way she justify her actions? As long she can reach the Ultimate Magic World, she will do **anything**. That includes the possibility of betraying us. What is to say that she won't sacrifice us for her own gains at the very last minute? She is cunning enough to infiltrate the Magic Council, you think hoodwinking us is hard for her? She is the one person who I don't want to match with in a game of wits. Remember, Meredy." Zancrow sat up straight as he looked at Meredy in the eye sternly. _

_"In this guild, never trust anyone fully. Never tell or entrust all your secrets to anyone else, including me. Always keep something close to your chest, the trump card that can bail you out of here if things goes haywire. It will be your only saving grace." With that said, Zancrow slumped back on his chair as he went back to devising plans. "Best to leave Ultear alone to her own devices and ours to ourselves. Besides, I want to kill Hades with my own hands and efforts. I won't let him die to anything or anyone else until then. The only person who I trust with my secret is you, adding Ultear in will just complicate things with little benefits to our cause, she is too cunning for us to manipulate to our favour. I don't care if she is a victim, a murderer, a saint or a devil. She's too dangerous and I will never trust someone like her."_

Meredy took the cue and never bring up the possibility of an alliance with Ultear again.

_"So how are we going to kill Hades?"_

_"I will probably never match up to him in terms of pure strength and experience, he got bucket loads of it and I will never best him if I fight him head-on. We all know his greatest source of strength comes from the Devil's Heart, so it is a given that we have to take it out before we can even consider fighting him head-on. Even then, it will be a close fight that I'm not sure if I can win."_

_"If the two of us combine our powers while he is weakened, we might stand a chance."_

_"No, you stay out of the fight."_

_"Zancrow! I'm not weak!"_

_"I'm not doubting your strength." Zancrow interrupted. "But I cannot unleash my full powers if I have to fight while ensuring your safety at the same time. I'm not saying you are a liability to me but that's just how my magic works. It causes widespread destruction to anyone and anything else other than the user. I have to fight him alone, you can help in other areas. Don't worry, there will be something for you to do."_

_Meredy wasn't very pleased with that answer but she didn't press on. She knew that once Zancrow made up his mind, hardly anyone can change it unless there's a better alternative._

_"So what comes next after we destroy the Devil's Heart?"_

_"We need to isolate Hades, make sure that he is alone. We need to get the entire Kin and Bluenote out of the area, for one. Especially Bluenote, he's too troublesome to deal with even if I'm not afraid of facing him in a one-on-one fight. My target is Hades and Hades alone, we need to make sure that anyone that isn't Hades is gone. We need to make sure no one interferes, even the grunts."_

_"How are we going to do that? Trap them in space-time magic?"_

_"No, not possible. The amount of magic power required to pull that off is too much considering who we are trying to contain in there. We need to catch Hades off guard when he is the most confident. No matter how I think about it, that time should be when Hades finally locates Zeref. That will be when he's the most confident and it will be easier to catch him off-guard. On top of that, given his personality, I have no doubt that he will send the entire guild out to search for him once he pinpoint Zeref's location, that means everyone else will be out and away. It will be killing two birds with one stone."_

The perfect opportunity came when Hades decided to send the entire group to invade Tenrou Island. Zancrow and Meredy succeeded.

Hades is now dead. Using his powers as a God Slayer, Zancrow had used flames that are so potent that it burnt Hades's soul into nothing. Even the gods won't be able to save Hades, he had been removed from the cycle of life and death.

The presence of Gray was a happy accident and she still felt a little bewildered at how easily he was convinced to take Ultear down together. Meredy felt a pang of sadness for injuring Ultear, she was one of the few who treated her with genuine kindness, albeit it was only just a little. However, she was also the one who massacred her entire town. Meredy felt conflicted. However, she reminded herself that in the end, everything she did is for Zancrow's sake.

The upside is that Ultear seemed to hit upon some sort of realisation upon her defeat by Gray's hands. Maybe now she can live a proper life instead of being caught up in the past.

When she finally brought her attention to Zeref, she found that he had escaped during the battle. Meredy couldn't bring herself to care. Zeref is unimportant in the grand scheme of things unless he interferes with Zancrow's plans.

"What do you mean you don't have much time left?" Laxus, who had arrived in time to help Erza drive off Azuma previously, caught the unusual words the God Slayer used.

"Acnologia is coming. The living calamity which claimed the arm and leg of your Ace, Gildarts, is on its way here. We need to get off this island before that happens."

Shouts of panic, confusion, and shock rippled across the entire group of Fairy Tail members who were assembled there. Aconologia's name is known far and wide across Fiore for the destruction he used to cause in the distant past. Gildarts's testimony to its existence when he returned from his century quest only solidified the fear they have for the legendary dragon. Makarov's loud voice boomed across the clearing.

"QUIET!"

Satisfied that he still had it in him to silence his rowdy brats, Makarov turned to the pair of ex-Grimoire Heart members.

"I supposed you have a solution in mind?"

"I do. But I need the cooperation of all of your guild members. Are they all here?"

"They are. What do you need us to do?"

"I need everyone to get out of here as soon as possible. Get back to your ship. Listen, I know you folks don't trust me due to what I did. But-"

A roar that reverberated across the entire island shook the very ground which the mages are standing on.

"What is that?!"

"It's huge!"

"That is a dragon!"

"The black dragon of apocalypse, Acnologia." Makarov muttered out.

"Darn it! This is way earlier than I expected! We were supposed to have at least another hour! I calculated it many times!" Zancrow cursed out loud at their predicament. "Meredy! Link everyone up!"

Meredy gave a shout of agreement as the both of them raised their magic levels sharply. In the meantime, Natsu flexed his arms as he called upon his magic, preparing to fight Acnologia.

"Alright! Let's-"

Whatever Natsu wanted to say was cut off as Makarov stood in between him and the rampaging dragon.

"Run. Get back to the ship."

"Gramps!"

With a bellow, Makarov enlarged himself with his Titan magic and held Acnologia back in his giant form, pushing it back with pure strength. His previous injuries spurted out blood once again as Acnologia roared and tried to wrestle with Makarov.

"Run Master! There's no way anyone can fight it!"

"Stop it! Please!"

"If you are picking a fight with that thing, then we are coming too!"

A shout from Makarov silenced them.

"Are you planning to disobey even your Master's final orders?! You shitty brats!" Makarov bellowed, stopping the Fairy Tail mages in their tracks.

"There's no need to run if we can hold if off for even just a little bit longer. Good job on that, Makarov." Zancrow's quiet voice cut across the clearing like a knife. "Look at your wrist."

The group of Fairy Tail mages looked at their wrist, where a strange symbol looking like some sort of bracelet tattoo with a heart in the middle was inked on it.

"This is Meredy's magic, Maguilty Sense. In this mode, our senses are shared. That includes the sense of pain, so be prepared to be in a world of pain later when we engage the overgrown lizard in combat. Any pain that one of you experienced will be felt by all. However, the true form of this magic is the ability to combine individual strengths into one, allowing our spells to increase our power. Right now, my power is flowing within you guys and yours in mine. The same goes for everyone else. That is step one."

"Then what the hell is step two?!"

Makarov ignored Gajeel's rude shout as he focused on holding Acnologia back as long as possible, tightening his grip around Acnologia's neck and not allowing it to take a step further. If Zancrow have a better alternative to save his children, he will take it.

"I need to gather enough power to unleash the spell I'm about to use. Buy me some time. Get Acnologia off the ground and away from us."

"You heard the guy!" Cana called out. "Charge!"

With that warcry, all hell broke loose as the Fairy Tail mages unleashed their attacks on Acnologia. However, their attacks didn't even leave a scratch on its scales as it sent all of them flying back with a swipe of its mighty claws.

Seemingly irritated by the mages, Acnologia flew into the air and sucked in a deep breath.

"It's a breath attack!" Gajeel warned the group.

"Is it planning on blasting the whole island away?!"

"Seriously?!"

"Oi blondie! If you have any plans, now is the time to put it into action!"

"I'm ready! Everyone gather around me! Make sure to hold each other's hands! Don't get lost! Make sure someone from your group has his or her hands on me!"

With a clap, Zancrow joined his palms together and looked resolutely at Acnologia, who is also charging up for its own attack. Meredy grabbed onto his arm by his side, while the rest of the Fairy Tail mages joined hands in a human chain with Natsu at the front, holding onto Zancrow's shoulders.

"We are ready!" Natsu shouted.

"Just do it already!" Someone from the back shouted out.

A beam of light shot down from Acnologia's mouth just as a huge torrent of black flames burst out from Zancrow, the huge amount of flames produced is only made possible by borrowing the magic powers of every single mage present. The black flames washed over every single mage involved. To their surprise, it didn't burn them, but rather, curled and surround them protectively.

"Fire God Slayer's Forbidden Art: Apollo's Chariot!"

* * *

**AN: So yeah, things have changed. For one, Hades's soul is gone so the demon from Tartaros (can't rmb his name) will no longer have access to his power and Natsu did not unlock the Lightning Flame mode. I know there will be a lot of comments about the fight with Hades but I'm sticking with what I wrote. This is the best possible outcome for me. Feel free to throw in your comments, but I prefer if they are constructive comments instead of straight up flaming. **

**Half of RC's storyline is now finished, just saying.**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6- Separation

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Get your grubby hands off me!"

"Watch where you are touching!"

"Get your feet off my face!"

The entire Tenrou team fell into a messy heap on a carpeted wooden floor. Makarov instantly recognised where they have been transported to.

"Isn't this... Porlyusica's place?"

"EHHH?!"

Just at that moment, the elderly lady stormed through the door with a broom in hand.

"Who dares invade..." She trailed off upon seeing the group's haggard state and a furrow in her brows worked its way up onto her face. She hesitated on what to say, but finally decided upon a question.

"What happened?"

"Long story." Gray huffed. "I still don't get it myself. One moment we are facing the black dragon of apocalypse, the next moment we are here."

"Apollo's Chariot allow the user to transport themselves and any persons he wish to any fire source within range as long as the user has enough magic to do so, a Fire God Slayer with total mastery of this spell is able to teleport to any fire source in the world instantaneously. My proficiency in this spell only allows me to to transport myself to Hargeon from Tenrou Island if I'm lucky enough, but by borrowing everyone's power I am able to transport the entire group here. It is a mere coincidence that the fire source I randomly chose belonged to someone you knew."

The crackling of fire from the fireplace at the side of the small wooden room that barely fitted the entire group got the group's attention as they stared at the small fire where the voice came from. A figure materialised from the flames, carrying an unconscious Meredy over his shoulder. Zancrow gently lay her down on the couch in the room with one arm before shutting the group up with a finger to his lips with the universal gesture to keep quiet.

"Meredy has exhausted herself trying to link us up with her magic. Let her have some rest."

That is the last thing the Fairy Tail mages have on their mind when they saw the state of Zancrow's left arm.

"Y-Your arm..." Lucy stuttered.

"Why else do you think I called it a _forbidden_ technique?" Zancrow shot back a harsh whisper, trying not to wake Meredy up. "And keep your volume down! You think such a convenient and versatile spell that allows me to transport us so quickly while facing the Dragon King comes without a cost? Especially when my brand of magic is known for its destructive properties and not suited for utility? I'm lucky that the usage of Apollo's Chariot only cost me a single arm, I wasn't expecting to come out of this alive. That spell was supposed to consume my life as the price for invoking it since I did not manage to master it. I need to be at least on a Wizard Saint's level if I want to use it without any repercussions to myself, which I'm not. Apollo's Chariot is meant to be a last resort to save Meredy, even if she doesn't know about that particular bit."

The rest of the Fairy Tail mages stared on in silence as they took in the sight of Zancrow's charred left arm, which is burnt up to his bicep and resembled more like charcoal than a human limb.

"L-Let me heal it for you." Wendy said as she walked up to the man. "Maybe my magic can-"

"It won't." Porlyusica interjected. "I can tell from a single glance. To invoke that kind of spell without a full mastery of it... it will only work by needing to sacrifice something, something of an equal value. Once you paid the price, you can't reverse the result. The boy is right by saying that he is lucky that the spell only cost him a single arm."

The entire Fairy Tail group fell into silence as they absorbed what Zancrow had planned to sacrifice to bring them all back to safety. They would have been dead if it wasn't for his help.

"Makarov." Zancrow called out as he looked at the elderly man.

"I know. You don't need to keep reminding me every single time you see me, sheesh." Makarov grumbled as he soothed his incoming headache by rubbing his knuckles into his temple at the side of his head. "Meredy will have a place in our guild. We will protect her from any threats from any dark guilds, and we will not tell the Magic Council of her involvement with Grimoire Heart. That fine by you?"

"Yes, it's fine. Thank you." Zancrow said softly and with a swipe of his hand, the guild mark of Grimoire Heart on Meredy's shoulder disappeared and faded into nothing.

"There. Now she can finally start anew."

"Awesome! Blondie!" Natsu nearly shouted but upon Zancrow's glare, quickly changed his volume to be suited for indoor use. "Does that mean you are joining Fairy Tail as well? You are strong! Come on, join us! I want a rematch!"

"Sorry, but no."

That quick refusal brought everyone's attention on the enigmatic God Slayer once more.

"Har? Why?" Natsu whined. "I mean, I did see you kill the guild master and stuff, but it was justified, right? You said that he killed your family! I will be mad too if anyone killed my nakama! I don't blame you for it! No one does!"

"You nitwit, have you forgotten? That person was also the second guild master of Fairy Tail. It was why I was so pissed with your guild originally."

"It's true." Makarov interrupted and silenced his brats before they could go into an uproar to defend their guild's honour. "The guild master of Grimoire Heart was my predecessor, Precht Gaebolg, and the second guild master of Fairy Tail. Apparently he took on the name of Hades sometime after he left the guild." Makarov turned towards Zancrow. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Zancrow. You were right to be angry with us."

"Save it." Zancrow dismissed Makarov with a wave of his working arm. "Just remember your promise. If Meredy falls to harm, I will raze your guild down to the ground myself."

"Argh! Don't leave!" Natsu clung onto Zancrow's leg comically, trying to prevent him from leaving. "Come on! Join our guild!"

"The Magic Council knows what I look like and that I am a member of Grimoire Heart, even if I didn't join that blasted guild on my own accord." Zancrow reasoned as he hissed at Natsu. "The reason why I let Meredy join your guild is because the council didn't know Meredy is a member of Grimoire Heart; I had wiped away every trace of her involvement with us and her existence with my information network right before we headed to your little island. Even if you dig out information about Grimoire Heart with Archive magic, there will be no traces of Meredy in it. Nobody will know how Meredy looks like or that she was one of our strongest members other than you guys since every single one of Grimoire Heart's grunts is dead. I killed them back on Tenrou before fighting Hades. The only ones left are the surviving members of the Kin, but they are smart enough to keep their mouth shut. Or if not, I can help them shut it up. _Permanently._" A shiver went through the Fairy Tail members at how Zancrow talked about killing off people so easily. "On the other hand, the council knew about my existence and how I looked like. If you _really_ wish for Fairy Tail to be labelled as a dark guild, then by all means, make me a member of your guild."

"I'm sure there is a way for you to be legally accepted into Fairy Tail." Mira spoke up. "You did help us in the end, it's only fair that we return the favour, no matter what you say."

"No, I don't want it. I haven't plan on what I'm going to do after this. Heck, in my original plan, I was supposed to be dead by this point after fighting Hades. I have no idea how I am still alive." Zancrow ran his right hand through his blond locks tiredly. "The only thing I planned for the future is to ensure Meredy has the chance to walk in the light again. Full stop."

"We can vouch for you!" Levy insisted. "You saved us from Acnologia! You were preparing to throw away your life for us! That is something!"

"And it is because I didn't want to continue living to begin with. How many times must I tell you guys for you to understand? Let me put it this way: I was planning to _die,_ either by bringing Hades down with me with the tons of suicide moves I came up, or by transporting Meredy away with Apollo's Chariot if things went FUBAR. Apollo's Chariot was supposed to be a suicide move to get Meredy out of there; you guys just happened to be tagging along for the ride, a ride that was supposed to consume my life as the ticket price. Obviously things didn't go according to plan since somehow everything took a turn for the better as if the gods themselves granted us their protection. Now, let go of me." Zancrow kicked Natsu away from his leg. He took a last look at Meredy's sleeping visage and carefully brushed aside the stray strands of hair from her face with his remaining working hand.

"Tell her not to look for me. After so many years in that hellhole, she can finally live the life of a proper, decent human being. A sinner like me can never walk beside her. I don't deserve her. I will keep an eye out for her, but I will never appear before her again. She will want to chase after me the moment she found that I'm gone. Don't let that happen. Use Memory Control magic to erase her memories of me if need be, I know your guild have someone capable of such a feat. Just don't let her look for me."

"Why?" Lucy blurted out. "You two are close, right? Why wouldn't you let her see you? Why would you rather her forget about you?!"

"Because she will be safer that way. She... She'll grow up to be better than what I'll ever be. I'm a criminal, she's not, she's too kind for it. She's safe here. She'll be fine. She..." Zancrow visibly held back a sob as the rest of the occupants in the room felt a throb in their heart. They did not expect what appears to be a cold and uncaring man to have such a soft side for Meredy. They understand his reasoning, even if they don't like it.

They don't like it a single bit.

But what else can they do? No matter how much they pity his plight, it does not change the fact that Zancrow is a wanted criminal in Fiore.

"She'll be _okay_, as long as she doesn't have any affiliation with me or Grimoire Heart, she'll be okay. She's finally free."

It was then Natsu truly understood the point Zancrow is driving at.

Because criminals are never truly free.

Because the lives of being a criminal on the run isn't kind to anyone no matter how strong they are.

Because criminal like him never meet a good end.

Because Zancrow just wants Meredy to live properly without the sins of a dark guild looming over her back.

Because of that, he chose to leave her here at Fairy Tail where he knew she would be watched over by caring people. People that can bring out the best in her and protect her. People that will treat her as their own, like a family.

Natsu will do that and he is sure that the rest of the guild will too. It is the least they can do.

"Take good care of her."

With those parting words, Zancrow left. The Fairy Tail members tried to stop him from leaving but Makarov held them back.

"Let him be." He sighed. "He had made his resolve, let's not make things even harder than it already is for him. We will pay back our debt to him one day, and the doors of our guild will be forever open to him should he needs it. For now, we need to treat our injuries." Makarov's eyes wandered back to Meredy, who is still sleeping off the exhaustion.

"And think of how to break the news to our newest guild member, Meredy."

* * *

"We are back~~" Wendy said out loud as she entered the guild hall after a mission together with Carla and Meredy. Meredy and Wendy had become fast friends with each other due to their similar ages and it's not uncommon for them to go on missions together.

"Welcome back, Wendy, Carla, Meredy."

The two girls and the exceed returned Mira's greeting and sat down at a table in the corner of the guild. Mira handed them drinks before going about the guild and doing her job as a barmaid. Meredy drank from her cup and let her mind wander.

It has been three years since the incident at Tenrou Island.

The transition was hard at first, especially when she first woke up and found that Zancrow had disappeared without a trace. The entire guild had to physically restrain her to prevent her from running off after Zancrow, but Master Makarov had shouted at her to calm down and listen to him, which she did.

She learnt from him how Zancrow had approached Master Makarov on Tenrou Island on that fateful day and struck a deal with him to keep her safe. She learnt the true nature of the spell, Apollo's Chariot, and the consequences for using it. She learnt about the price Zancrow had paid to get them all to safety. She learnt that Zancrow was planning to _die_ that day. He planned to die, to leave her alone without even telling her.

The last part of the truth shook her very core.

Meredy was a sobbing mess after that. She just _cannot_ understand. Didn't Zancrow promised her that he will never leave her alone after they settled their differences back at Azalea? Why? Why had he attempted a suicide technique even when he had promised her to never leave her alone? Why is he leaving her now? Grimoire Heart is gone, Hades is dead. So _why_? Why can they not be together after all they had been through?

Meredy wanted to go and find Zancrow but Master Makarov just handed her a letter and asked her to read it. Apparently the letter found its way to him just a day after Zancrow left. It was addressed to her.

_Meredy,_

_When you are reading this letter I would have already left. I don't have an exact idea on where I'm going or what I'm going to do from this point onwards, I have never planned that far ahead beyond getting my revenge. As you would have probably learnt by now, things didn't go exactly as I had planned. In my original plans, I would have been dead by now and you would be left in good hands. I have never expected myself to come out alive from this mess when I joined Grimoire Heart so many years ago to seek revenge. I know that I had promised you that I will not leave you alone in this world and I knowingly broke that promise._

_I'm sorry._

_I didn't want to promise you that particular request of yours when you cried in my arms and forgive me for my sins back at Azalea. At that point in time I was already determined to give up my life to bring Hades down and to let you live a new life, even if I have to die trying. But I just can't bring myself to say 'No' to you. I can never say 'No' to you. You never failed to throw a wrench in my plans, you know that? I swore to not let myself get attached to anyone at Grimoire Heart but then you came into my life unannounced. I wanted to let you latch onto someone else, like Ultear for instance. She would have taken good care of you but you just keep coming back to me no matter what I did to chase you away. It wasn't long before I realised that you are the biggest unaccounted factor in my schemes. Without knowing it, I had come to care for you and I was forced to adjust my plans for revenge the moment you entered into my life._

_I was determined to let you have a chance to start anew and experience a life outside the senseless killings and schemes. I was determined to not let your hands be tainted in blood like me. I can now proudly say I succeeded. You have never bloodied your hands and your heart remains pure despite the hellhole you were raised in. I made sure your past with Grimoire Heart cannot be traced back, so live. Live your new life in the light with your head held high. Start anew, make friends. Live and enjoy the life that we were both robbed away from, for the both of us._

_Perhaps the heavens took pity on me and allowed me to come out alive after facing Hades and Acnologia, maybe the fates wanted to give me another chance as well. I don't know, I really don't. Maybe there's still a purpose for my continued existence outside of revenge. So I decided to leave to find that purpose. Knowing you, you will have tried to come along with me no matter what I say and I will not be able to refuse you. I decided to leave before that happens. This is my responsibility, you are not responsible for the crimes I committed. _

_I need to do this alone. _

_I am a sinner, Meredy, no matter what you try to say. In my opinion, the only ones I have killed are dark mages and the lowest of scums, but a life is a life. I have killed hundreds even though I felt that my actions were justified and the world is better off without them._

_Two wrongs don't make a right. __I am a sinner. There's no way around that._

_You can argue that I may not be the one who reaped the lives of the innocents, but I am equally guilty for just standing there without doing anything to try and save them. It doesn't really matter to me now. __At the very least, I had managed to save you and I do not regret it._

_Put the darkness we experienced behind us and see the world again, I'm sure that it will look very different to you now. I will always be keeping an eye out for you, but do not look for me. I will most probably be going on a journey. It may be to redeem myself, it may be to run some damage control on what our guild had inflicted upon this world, or it may be to just see the world once again in a new light. I don't know for sure on what I will do in the foreseeable future and it is what I am going to find out. I need to right the wrong that Grimoire Heart has done upon the world. It is my responsibility and my punishment, even if I have no idea yet on how I am going to accomplish it._

_Stay safe. I will always be behind you, no matter what you do._

_Zancrow._

Meredy eyes wandered back to the letter held in her hands as she read it for the umpteenth time. The letter is always on her person. She had long since memorised the contents of the letter as she read it a few times every single day, it's the only thing Zancrow had left her. Meredy can understand the point Zancrow is driving at. Knowing him, he probably wants to do some good for the world to redeem himself of his crimes and lessen the guilt he feels. Zancrow didn't want Meredy to come along with him since he felt that Meredy shouldn't suffer for his crimes but Meredy thinks that it is utter nonsense.

The reason why Meredy's hands remained clean till date is because Zancrow had took on the dirtiest of jobs for her. He stained his hands in even more blood to protect her innocence. Meredy is no stranger to death, she had seen countless corpses in her time at Grimoire Heart even if she had never killed herself. Even so, she knew that there is a stark difference between looking at a corpse and being responsible for the death of said corpse. She just never had the opportunity to cross that line, Zancrow had ensured it for her sake.

For that alone, Meredy feels that she is just as guilty as Zancrow is. If Zancrow is a sinner, then she is one as well.

After pondering over that issue for a few days, she decided to disregard Zancrow's request to not look for him. Despite how he carried himself in front of others, Meredy knew that Zancrow's mind is even more fragile than what it appears to be. Zancrow loathes himself for being unable to protect his family and hates himself for being a killer for hire back at Grimoire Heart. It would not be good for his mental health if he was left alone without any form of emotional support. Meredy wants to be there for him, just as how he had been there for her for so many years. With Master Makarov's approval and support, Meredy used her skills that she acquired in Grimoire Heart on intelligence gathering to try and locate Zancrow. Many members of the guild helped out as well as they try to search for any news of Zancrow when they went on their respective jobs.

No one had any luck. It's like Zancrow had disappeared from the face of the earth.

"Meredy? Would you mind having a private word?"

Meredy's attention snapped back towards Master Makarov, who is gesturing with his hand for her to follow him to his office.

Once in the office, Makarov locked the door and set up magic seals to prevent any eavesdroppers. He turned to Meredy and handed her a slip of paper.

"I will be blunt. I think I may have gotten news on Zancrow. The coordinates where he was last seen is written on the piece of paper."

Meredy quickly perused through what was written on the paper. The exact coordinates of a specific location was written on the slip of paper like what Makarov had said.

"How did you find it?"

"You know the bounty hunter who went by the name of Skull? The one that popped up in recent years?"

Meredy nodded. Skull had become somewhat of a news sensation when he appeared about two years ago. He is an independent mage that took on jobs posted by the Magic Council to exterminate dark guilds that were too problematic for even both the council and legal guilds to handle. Most independent bounty hunters that went on these kinds of jobs have to go in groups to ensure that they come back alive, and even then it is common for these groups to go on their missions without making it back. The astonishing thing is that Skull took on these missions alone and maintained a 100% success rate till date. He exterminated the dark guilds and mages he was assigned to take down with extreme prejudice, leaving his targets with wounds that are often more grievous than what is strictly necessary to bring them down. No one knew what type of magic he used although none of his targets had died so far when he dumped them into the cold cells where fugitives like them are held. Despite his contributions to the magical community and the country, his cruel methods in exterminating dark guilds did not exactly paint him in a favourable light in the eyes of the council, and thus making him a problematic and controversial figure to deal with in the council's opinion.

The citizens of Fiore, however, loved him, especially those who had been saved or had benefited from his actions. No one knew what he looked like. He is constantly wearing a hooded cape that covered most of his body and he wore a mask painted with a skull design on his face. He didn't give anyone a name to call him by so over time, people refer to him as 'Skull' due to the mask he wore on his face whenever he appeared in public. The design of his mask soon became a merchandise where merchants will sell to little kids who aspire to be a hero like him. His heroics had inspired many young mages as well.

"What does Skull have to do with Zancrow? Did he spot him on one of his mission?"

"No, I suspect Skull _is_ Zancrow. No one know what type of magic Skull uses but according to an eyewitness from a mage of Lamia Scale when he passed by the area, he spotted Skull using a type of Fire magic that produces black flames that turned the surroundings to ash within seconds. There's only one person we both know that is capable of such magic."

Meredy's breath hitched as her heartbeat quickened. This is the most reliable news she had gotten about Zancrow to date. From that description alone, she is almost sure that Skull is Zancrow.

"Master! I..."

Makarov chuckled as he waved his hands to dismiss Meredy's concerns.

"Go and search for him. I know he means the world to you. Just make sure to say your goodbyes before you leave, alright? And remember to write a letter back every now and then so that we know that you are well. You are strong, but there many other stronger mages out there. If we don't hear from you at least once a month, I will consider sending a search party to look for you."

Meredy nodded excitedly and Makarov shooed her out of his office, claiming to have stacks of paperwork to clear. Meredy hastened her pace back to her apartment at Fairy Hills. She have goodbyes to say to her nakamas before she went out to search for Zancrow.

Meredy inwardly prayed to the deities above that she will be able to locate and meet Zancrow this time. She don't think she can handle chasing another lead on him only to reach another dead end.

She will find him. That's a promise.

* * *

**AN: Apollo's Chariot was inspired by a certain magic? ability? from a manga (or is it manhwa?) named Witch Hunter, if I remembered it correctly. I have never finished reading that series and it has been a long time since I have read it. But what I do remember is the ability of one of the witches to travel through fire, which is pretty cool in my opinion.**

**I know this chapter looks as if it has plot holes or have things that looked as if they are unaddressed, but I'm planning to address them slowly in the next few chapters. I seek your understanding to be patient, I tend to prefer releasing information slowly instead of doing it in one sitting.**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7- Fruits of Redemption

I don't know why I never appreciate the sunset until now. It's beautiful.

Maybe it's because I never took the time to appreciate it before, maybe it's because I can finally open my heart to fill in the sights of the world now that I had my revenge. Just like with the many other things in this life, I don't know the reason why, but I don't think I need a reason.

It's best to just live in the present for now. Not everything needs to be answered.

It's been three years since I've left Meredy in Fairy Tail. From what I've last heard, she's doing well. That's all the comfort I need. At the very least, she's the one thing that I had done right. She's the one person that I managed to muster the courage to save during my time in Grimoire Heart.

She's proof that I had done some good for the world, she's proof that I'm not a heartless monster that I feared I will become in my obsessive quest for revenge.

Defeating Hades was an uphill, nearly impossible task. He's more than a century old and he had forgotten more magic than I had learnt. I have no delusions that I can defeat him in a head-on fight. There's no way someone as powerful and experienced like him will lose to a guy who only had slightly more than a decade worth of experience in using magic. The only way for me to even have a chance to fight him on an even ground is to catch him unaware and destroy the Devil's Heart before confronting him. There are no better alternatives. Even then, it will be hard to bring him down. I know he will have countermeasures in the case the Devil's Heart was compromised and I was proven right when he is still able to use magic on the level of an upper tier S Class mage despite the handicap. I wasn't planning to die when I faced him, but I wasn't expecting to come out of it alive and unscathed either. I know better than anyone how strong Hades truly is, he's someone on the level of a Wizard Saint, a level of power that I'm nowhere near in achieving yet. I even prepared several suicide moves in case things went horribly wrong although by some stroke of luck, I didn't even come close to using it. The only dangerous spell I have to use is Odin's Gungnir, a spell that is only good for one use, and I managed to pull it off without any drawbacks. I'm lucky as hell.

On hindsight, it felt good to come out of the entire incident alive even if the price for it is by sacrificing the functionality of my left arm. In my original plans, if I survived Hades I will do my best to get Meredy out of Tenrou Island asap. I had originally planned to hop onto Fairy Tail's ship together with their entire group since according to my calculations, we were supposed to have an abundance of time before Acnologia arrived, but his untimely arrival forced me to invoke Apollo's Chariot, a spell which I'm still not ready to use without repercussions. I didn't want to use Apollo Chariot due to the cost of invoking it, but Acnologia appeared sooner than expected and I was left without a choice. I could just teleport with Meredy out with my own powers, but I was drained of magic after my fight with Hades and I'm not confident that I can successfully bring Meredy to safety in that condition. Hence, I made use of Meredy's magic to borrow the magic powers of the entire Fairy Tail group to bail us out of there knowing full well that I might die as a result. The cost of using Apollo's Chariot on such a big group is steep, and that's not factoring in the amount of magic required to cast it. I need something else on top of it, something costly enough to temporarily tap into the powers of a god to get everyone out of there. The only thing I can pay for its successful use is my life.

Somehow, that didn't happen, and I'm not going to question the outcome.

I still don't understand why Acnologia appeared so soon. When I was first planning for revenge against Hades, I knew that Tenrou Island would be a possible battleground and a good location to have my revenge due to my foreknowledge of what goes on in that particular arc. I had searched through the guild's archives on information of both Zeref's and Acnologia's historical sightings. For whatever reasons that remained unknown, Aconologia tend to appear after Zeref was sighted, and using the historical differences in timings of their appearance throughout the centuries, I calculated and narrowed down the possible amount of time Meredy and I have to get out of Tenrou Island before that dragon arrived. Even then, Acnologia still appeared earlier than expected.

I went on an endless journey after leaving Meredy in Fairy Tail's capable hands. Without revenge driving me on and without having a need to keep a constant lookout for Meredy's well-being, I simply wandered around the country with no clear goal in mind. Initially, it was just simple travelling as I try to find a new purpose in life and I helped whoever I came across as long as it is within my power to do so, but another problem soon surfaced.

I needed money. Travelling is something that consumes money, I cannot continue travelling without any source of income.

It was just some simple bandits at first, I didn't really care who I apprehended as long as they are guilty of evil deeds and they fetch me enough money so that I don't starve. For obvious reasons, I cannot show my face in public, and so I bought a mask from a random stand in a dingy marketplace with a visage of a skull painted on it.

No particular reason why I chose that particular mask, I picked it because it just felt right.

And partly because the other masks on sale were too ugly looking.

The staffs stationed at the bounty stations had taken to referring me as 'Skull' since I declined to give my real name and I'm too lazy to think of another alias to go by. It was from there that I spotted the numerous bounty posters hanging in the lobby of the bounty station.

There are so many dark mages and criminals out there still roaming the lands and getting away scot-free with their crimes. Some of their crimes are horrendous, with the annihilation of remote towns and villages being the most commonly committed crimes. That's not including torture, inhumane cultists rituals, illegal experiments, rape, and a whole plethora of hideous deeds that was written on their bounty posters. These dark mages aren't even _that_ strong if I have to compare them to the capabilities of an average mage in Fiore, so why are these scums still out there and unapprehended?! Some of the posters are even a few years old!

I know most of these criminals from my time as a spymaster but I never really bothered to check on them since revenge was all I cared about previously. It's different now. Now that I had my revenge, it's like a veil has been lifted from my eyes. I can see clearer.

These scums need to be put down. If no one else is taking the initiative to cull them, I will. I have nothing else to do and nothing else to lose. I might as well use my remaining time in this world to do some good for the innocents who are only trying their best to live their lives like a proper human being.

Most of the settlements that these dark mages like to target are often remotely located in some rural area of the country where mages from the nearby towns rarely visit, let alone the Rune Knights. It's because of this that thugs and ruffians gained the cocky attitude to do whatever they want to the defenseless people.

Like how Hades did to my hometown, Azalea.

I'm determined to not let anymore settlements like Azalea fall prey to the viciousness of rampant dark mages. I don't want another version of me running around trying to get revenge on their families' killer and ruin their whole lives as a result. For that end, I dedicated all my time into this self-imposed mission and it brought about results, results that the Magic Council and the Kingdom should have been performing if they did their job in the first place. It's not even that hard to achieve. If a wanted criminal like me can take out numerous dark mages and dark guilds by my lonesome while being on the run, what excuse do they have?

My quest in apprehending dangerous dark mages soon became my new purpose in life as I journeyed around the country using my previous skills as a spymaster to track and ultimately bring them down. I didn't kill any of them, death is too kind a mercy. I will just beat them half to death and then send them to the warm embrace of the cold prison cell where they will be locked up when I turned them in to the bounty stations. My actions had caused me to gain quite a reputation among the populace which was quite unexpected, but I managed to lose any curious individuals that tried to follow me around. There are times where the Magic Council had asked for my help in bringing down certain dark guilds or individual dark mages and I took on every single request since I had nothing better to do.

Tracking these dark mages down often bring me to the rural settlements that had little to no protection against external threats. Sure, the people there can deal with a group of bandit or two on their own, but a dark mage with no qualms on killing? These innocent folks are unable to use magic, they are lucky if they leave with their lives intact and their limbs still attached.

After passing through several of those settlements, I noticed how rundown and behind they are in their economic development and their overall security. I can help take care of a few dark mages for them, but will I be there to help out if another one turns up? I can only be in one place at any one time, I cannot protect them forever. Me helping to deal with the ruffians that made their lives miserable for them is only a temporary solution, I need a more permanent solution so that no one will mess with them again. I need to make them to be able to stand on their own and fight back. I need to teach them how to protect themselves.

Like the saying goes, give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

If no one else is willing to attempt this arduous task, then I will do it. I don't want anymore places to suffer the same fate as Azalea simply because they don't know how to defend themselves.

The most immediate problem is once again, money. To solve this issue, I chased after the more dangerous criminals with bounties that fetched a higher reward and I rarely rested as I continued my hunt that brought me across the country. The end result is that I accumulated a huge sum of money that is good enough to serve as capital to help me in my new project.

Teaching the locals of the settlements I'd been to on how to protect themselves is not the only thing I have to worry about. I need money for everything. Money makes the world go round. As long as the people don't have the required economic strength to support themselves, then they will never be truly safe no matter how much I teach them. Poverty can bring out the worst in people and I don't want them to turn on themselves for the sake of survival even before the dark mages got their clutches on them.

And so, I have to find ways to bring the economic strength of the settlements I'd been to up to par with the more developed ones in the country. I'm not expecting them to transform into another Crocus, but at least they can live their lives respectably without fearing for their lives every single waking day and earn a little more money to make their lives a little more comfortable. Somehow, I succeeded. I also managed to set up schools and for some of the places I'd been to, I even managed to set up _hospitals_, which is a rarity given how primitive this world is in their technology without the presence of magic.

I still cannot believe that I managed to achieve all of that.

The moment my job in one settlement is done, I always leave immediately to travel to the next place I know that needs help. I will ask the locals to help me keep my movements a secret from anyone else that isn't part of their little community, which they happily complied. If anyone else asked, their towns and villages prospered because they worked hard for it with minimal help of my own, which isn't a lie, since none of the accomplishments we achieved together would not be possible if it wasn't for their hard work. If anyone else asked where I had disappeared to, they will reply by saying that I disappear in the dead of the night and nobody had a clue. Most of them don't understand why I wanted any traces of my stay to be erased and I didn't bother explaining. The lesser they know about the real me, the better. I don't care about the recognition of the good deeds I had done. I'm just happy that for once, I'm finally doing something meaningful with my life, something that does not have anything to do with revenge.

Another bonus for me is that I can now truly get to go out and see the world, a dream that Ria once had. We promised that we will go out to see the world together. She's gone now, but that is no excuse for me to not go through on our promise now that I have the time for it.

I will let her see the world through her own eye I implanted into my head. This world is imperfect with many evils lurking in unseen corners, but I won't deny that it is beautiful as well. We will see the world together.

Ria would have loved it.

Ultear had approached me sometime back with the offer to join the independent guild she founded with Jellal, Crime Sorciere. I turned them down. While I am glad that Ultear had decided to become a better person, I still don't fully trust her. I don't have a specific reason for my distrust other than having a bad gut feeling about her due to seeing her vicious side back at Grimoire Heart for so many years. Our goals don't exactly align with each other as well. The only similarity Crime Sorciere and I shared is that we both take down dark guilds and mages to better the world and to redeem ourselves for the sins we committed, but ultimately, Crime Sorciere's objectives is focused on destroying anything related to Zeref while mine is to help as many defenseless settlements as I can.

Seeing that both parties cannot come to a common ground, we parted amicably. I still won't call Ultear a friend, but at least she's now an acquaintance that I know I can call for help if I really need it. She's a reliable ally that I can work with if the going gets tough. I'm cool with Jellal as well. He's a little antisocial but is still a nice guy to spend time with.

I pulled my cape closer around my body as I walked through the town that I'm currently helping. There's someone, or a group of someones, that is persistently on my trail for nearly two months now. That person(s) is good, I will admit that much. No matter how much I purposely changed course or throw them off my trail they will still be onto my tracks whenever I traveled around the country apprehending criminals and cashing in their bounties to raise funds for the town I'm currently helping. That's saying something about their skills since I was the spymaster of a dark guild that used to be part of the Balam Alliance. I'm good at what I do.

Maybe I should meet them, just to satisfy my curiosity of just who is capable enough to be able to follow me for so long.

* * *

Zancrow really didn't change much.

Ok, maybe that's not the best description of Zancrow Meredy can think of. Appearance wise, Zancrow did change. From what little she can see from her vantage point, he had cut his hair short with a slope haircut and a shorter top as well, making him a lot more neater as compared to his previously disheveled look with his messy long hair he sported three years ago. His entire left arm is covered in bandages and hanged limply by his side. Like the rumours said, Zancrow is wearing a hooded cape and had a mask with a skull design painted on it covering his face but even from afar, Meredy can recognise that it is Zancrow at first glance.

Tracking Zancrow down hadn't been easy even with the help Master Makarov had provided for Meredy. By the time Meredy had reached the stated coordinates, Zancrow had already moved on to his next destination and Meredy had to follow whatever little traces that was left. There are times she have to decide the most likely places Zancrow might go based on her knowledge about his habits and preferences. She was lucky that she managed to track him down like that with sheer guesswork and luck.

Meredy looked from afar behind a tree at the lone figure sitting by the riverbank located in an isolated rural town in the north of Fiore. Zancrow's back is facing Meredy as he watched the sunset from where he is. Meredy had found Zancrow walking through the town by chance and followed him discreetly, leading them to their current location.

She has been watching him from afar secretly for close to half an hour now.

"Come out, Meredy. I know it's you."

Meredy blinked in surprise, but then again it shouldn't be a surprise. Zancrow's senses are accurately sharp. She had never managed to sneak up to Zancrow undetected before, which was her favourite game when she was still a kid. To encourage Meredy to learn how to conceal her presence at an early age, Zancrow had turned their stealth lessons into some sort of game where she will try to sneak up to him and she can try whenever she wants to as long she gave a minimum of five tries a week. Needless to say, she never succeeded once, but Zancrow did reward her with her favourite sweets for every improvement she showed.

Some things still remained the same after all these years.

Meredy appeared from behind the cedar tree where she was hiding and made her way to Zancrow. She had a ton of things to say to him, but found herself not knowing what to say upon meeting him.

Zancrow took down his hood and mask as Meredy sat down by his side and for the first time in three long years, Meredy took a good look at the person that she had been pining for.

Zancrow's haircut was the most obvious change given that his hair is a lot more shorter and neater. Thanks to Hades, there is now a scar running down vertically from his eyebrow to the cheek level across his right eye -his sister's eye- which he now used in replacement of the eye he lost in his battle against Hades. If Meredy were to attempt an educated guess, he probably wanted to fulfill his sister's wish to travel the world by letting her see the vast lands of Fiore with her own eye. Zancrow is sentimental and sweet like that. His left arm remained eerily still and covered in bandages, Meredy didn't even see the fingers on his left arm twitch.

The damage to his left arm must have been very extensive. It looked as if the entire burnt portion of Zancrow's left arm had lost its functionality.

"Huh, you grew prettier."

Meredy blushed briefly at that statement although she felt quite pleased with herself. Puberty had been kind to her. She had grown taller and her body had grew out curves. Unlike Zancrow, she had let her hair grew out down to the middle of the back with a wavy ponytail. She still wear her earmuffs, although she had switched the original wing-like yellow ones with a set of dark brown normal looking ones. The women in Fairy Tail had also very gleefully gave her a very detailed course on fashion sense and educated her on how to dress, how to apply makeup, and basically anything to make her prettier and more beautiful, saying that she will be turning heads after their lessons.

Personally, Meredy felt that they just want a victim to dress up to their heart's content. She shivered slightly at the memory, that had not been a pleasant experience for her. The only bright side was that Wendy was dragged into the mess with her as well so she did not suffer alone.

Meredy fiddled the end of her dress a little. Other than the hooded cape that she wore out of habit whenever she went out for missions (Zancrow did not want her to be identified by anyone as a member of a dark guild so he was very adamant on keeping her face covered from everyone else on her missions back at their time in Grimoire Heart, and the practice had became an ingrained habit after awhile.), her usual outfit now is a red dress with golden trims with a golden belt around her waist. She also now wear black colour stockings with brown boots. The dress has a deep neckline, showing off her ample cleavage. She still remembered how embarrassed she was when the females of the guild paraded her around in this revealing outfit after they had finished dressing her in it at the end of five painful hours with them. Regardless, she admitted that she felt pleased with herself when she saw how the males in the guild were unable to take their eyes off her, some of them even have massive nosebleeds.

Meredy have to acknowledge that the ladies in the guild do have pretty good fashion sense despite the horror they had put her through.

Meredy decided to give her new appearance a try and found herself enjoying the confidence her makeover brought her. Many people had complimented on how beautiful she looked but to her, only the compliment of one person matters.

Smiling cheekily, Meredy stood up and twirled on the spot before resting her hands on her hips.

"How about it? Do you like my new look?"

Zancrow gave a soft laugh as he replied. "You are certainly more confident now. Fairy Tail has been good for you, I'm glad that I decided to send you there. There's only a small problem." Zancrow walked up to her and pulled her cape over her chest, covering her body. "I don't know what the ladies in your guild taught you, but I don't want you to go and expose so much skin on your chest area for the whole damn world to see."

What is with that comment?! Is that a compliment or not? All she wanted to hear him say are something along the lines of "Yes, you look nice, Meredy." or "I like your new look." Was that so hard?!

Meredy blushed a little at how close they currently are and felt a little hot. Strange, it's not the first time that they are in close contact with each other, but she didn't feel so hot and bothered previously. Zancrow seemed to notice that as well.

"Why is your face so flushed? Are you sick?" He placed the back of his right hand on her forehead to check her body temperature. "Hmm... you seem to be alright. At least I don't think you are suffering from a fever. Maybe it's because of the hot and dry weather here? Remember to hydrate yourself, you aren't a kid anymore."

Meredy nodded timidly at Zancrow's words as he lectured her, another action that she did out of habit. It is how he expressed his concern for her, even if he was a lot stricter and stern when he was taking care of her when she was younger. Meredy felt a little warm fuzzy feeling at the depths of her heart. She is glad. Zancrow and her might have been separated for three years and some things had changed. Even then, their care and concern for each other didn't diminish.

Or maybe it did change. Meredy isn't very sure herself, but she felt that they had grown closer to each other even if they did not have any contact with each other during these three long years. Maybe Zancrow's solidarity journey had done him some good as well. He is a lot more relaxed and the guilt on his shoulders had visibly lessen. There is noticeably less anger in his heart. He is _smiling_, albeit it is a very small smile that is near unnoticeable unless you know him very well, but it is a smile nonetheless. The Zancrow from before rarely smiled.

Unless he gave in to his bloodlust from his God Slayer magic and entered a berserker state during battle. The psychotic smile he gave during these times is a clear warning for those around him to back off and run away as far as possible if you want to live to see the next day.

"Come on, let's go. I have no idea how you tracked me down, I was very thorough in covering my tracks. You are obviously tired. We will get you something to eat, then you will go and sleep. You can bombard me with whatever questions you have the next day. I won't disappear without warning this time, I promise. So just go and get some rest."

Zancrow put his mask and hood back on and Meredy followed suit by pulling her own hood over her head. Without warning, Zancrow grabbed onto Meredy's wrist and dragged her along with him. Meredy can't help but blush involuntarily at the close contact. _Why is she blushing? Why is her heart beating so fast?!_

"...redy. Meredy. You ok?"

Meredy was brought back to reality at Zancrow's words as she sputtered to reply.

"Y-Yes! Um... Where are we going?"

Zancrow gave a very unimpressed look through his mask as he sighed and proceeded to continue dragging her along.

"You are obviously not listening. Never mind. You haven't found a place to stay for the night, right? Then you are coming to my place. You might be sick if you are this unresponsive and I don't want to leave you alone like this. You are usually very alert to your surroundings."

Meredy wanted to retort, but stopped short when Zancrow lifted her up with a single arm to carry her in a piggy-back style before walking off to wherever he is bringing her to. Meredy rested her head on Zancrow's back, reminiscing on the times when Zancrow will carry her in this exact way back to her room when she collapsed from exhaustion after training when she was a lot younger.

_It's not like I'm not alert to my surroundings. I'm only like this when you are around._ Meredy rebuked in the confines of her mind.

_I'm only so relaxed around you because I know you will always protect me whenever we are together. Dummy._

* * *

In the end Meredy didn't have the heart to ask Zancrow why he left her in Fairy Tail all alone. Was there a point in asking that when they both knew the answer to it? Being in Fairy Tail had been good for Meredy, the both of them knew it. Zancrow always made the correct choice when it comes to her.

The both of them had a silent breakfast similar to how they enjoyed each other's company back at Grimoire Heart. Despite not being a part of that guild anymore, there are still so many habits that both of that retained when it comes to spending time together. Meredy did get curious as to what Zancrow did duing these three years and so she asked him. Zancrow merely smirked and brought her around the small town they were at for some sightseeing. Meredy was surprised and awestruck upon learning at what Zancrow had accomplished as she walked around the town with him.

The rumours she heard didn't have the entire truth about Zancrow's deeds. He did way more than just destroying dark guilds around the country.

Zancrow helped the townsfolk to churn out ideas on how to grow their economy. He imparted them knowledge, knowledge on how to defend themselves and how to create medicines from the wild herbs found in the area among other things. He also helped to build schools, hospitals, and the necessary infrastructures to keep the town running and help develop the town so that the people living in it can improve their standard of living and quality of life. Most of the change is possible thanks to the funding from the huge sum of reward money Zancrow donated to the town he got from the completion of the numerous job requests from the council to exterminate dark guilds or apprehend dark mages. He took the bare minimum to allow him to get by and donated the rest. Due to his actions, the people in this town loved Zancrow, worshiped him even. The men felt a sense of honour working alongside him, the ladies sang praises of him, and the children idolised him. Zancrow not only get rid of their dark guild problem thereby allowing them to live a life not cowering in fear, he had voluntarily stayed behind to help them rebuild their wrecked town.

To them, he is a hero.

This is the ninth town that Zancrow had helped. It had become a routine of sorts for him. He will get rid of dark guilds by request of the Magic Council or hunt for the bounties of dangerous dark mages under the alias of Skull. If he happens to see any towns that are in need of help, he will stay behind to help them. The entire rebuilding efforts usually lasts for somewhere between one to three months, although there are some which needed an even longer period of time, and when Zancrow is sure that the town can operate without him around, he disappears and search for the next town that is in need of help.

Meredy thinks that it is a noble thing to do. Many mages from legal guilds have no problems lending a helping hand to get rid of a dark guild problem that plague a town or city, some even do it for free if the problem is serious enough, like Fairy Tail and their allied guilds, for instance. But Meredy had not seen a single mage who will voluntarily stay back and invest a large amount of time to help with the rebuilding process like what Zancrow had done.

Meredy finally had a glimpse of what Zancrow had been doing on his journey of redemption.

"Skull-nii! Skull-nii!"

A bunch of children ran up to them with wooden masks over their faces. The masks have black and white paint messily painted on it in an attempt to recreate the skull design that Zancrow had on his mask. What the children had painted is nowhere alike the mask that Zancrow wore, but Meredy found it cute that these children are emulating Zancrow.

"Hey kiddos." Zancrow replied as he ruffled the hair on the top of their heads fondly with his working arm. "Is it your recess break?"

"Yeah!" One of the boys exclaimed. "We were telling the rest of the kids in school how we saw you fighting off those bad guys!" The excited boy began to take a stance that Meredy knew all too well while another two boys began to act as the 'bad guys'. "The bad guys were fighting like this..." The two boys posing as bad guys began to act menacingly but it made them so much cuter, in Meredy's opinion, and she struggled not to laugh at their cute little performance. "And then you went on to fight them!" The boy narrating the story began to mimic the stance Zancrow took to use one of his spell, Fire God's Kagutsuchi, before rushing in to punch and kick at the air towards the direction of the 'bad guys'. "Then it was like KAPOW! BOOM! BANG! And so much fire! Then the bad guys were defeated!" On cue, the two 'bad guys' fall dramatically onto the ground and lay motionless there. The rest of the kids who had gathered around gave a round of applause, which Meredy did as well while laughing out. They are too cute!

Scratch that, they are absolutely adorable.

"A very descriptive narration and a stunning performance." Zancrow replied dryly from behind his mask. Meredy is sure that he had mixed in some sarcasm in there but the kids are too young to pick it out.

"Skull-nii! Skull-nii! Show us your magic! It's pretty!" One of the girls shouted in excitement as she bounced on her feet.

"Fire isn't pretty, Juliet. Never play with fire, do you understand?" Zancrow suddenly got into his 'lecture mode' and looked at the little girl sternly.

"But your fire doesn't burn us!" Another little girl argued back as the entire group of children began to riot.

"Well, if you want pretty, this onee-chan here-" Zancrow suddenly put a hand on Meredy's shoulder and placed her in between him and the kids. "-have a way prettier magic. Anyone want to see pretty magical swords?"

"YEAH!"

With that simple move, Zancrow effectively transferred the kids' attention onto Meredy. Meredy fixed a glare on him, but Zancrow pretended not to notice as he looked elsewhere.

Zancrow is not going to be of any help here, is he?

Resigning herself to her fate to being the kids' entertainer for the day, Meredy created teal magic blades with Maguilty Sodom and made the swords danced in the air for the kids to see. The kids' excited yelps and shouts soon attracted the nearby townsfolk and they all went to spectate the performance, forming a small crowd around her. To conclude the performance, Meredy sent a few rays of Maguilty Rays into the air that exploded in a fantastic show of light and curtsied to the crowd.

"So pretty!"

"More! More!"

The kids were nigh uncontrollable now as they were excited to see another form of magic that they didn't know of. From what Zancrow told her, this town don't have any mages nor are they under the protection of a mage guild. The town's location is also too far away for the Rune Knights to protect them effectively. While magic is a common occurrence for the townsfolk thanks to lacrimas, seeing magic being performed by mages is a rare sight for them. It was the lack of presence of legal mages or the Rune Knights that this town was often plagued by dark guilds until Zancrow came.

To the kids' dismay, the large bell hanging at the top of their clock tower rung out, signaling the end of the recess break for the kids.

"Alright kids, your break's over. Get back to your lessons now. Shoo, shoo." Zancrow said as he playfully wave a dismissive gesture at the group of kids.

"Skull-nii!" The group of kids chorused out.

"Skull-sama is right." A middle-aged man with round glasses appeared with a stern look on his face. He is obviously the teacher of the bunch of rambunctious kids. "Get back to class now, all of you. You can bother Skull-sama and his lady friend another day."

With a collective groan, the group of kids dragged themselves towards the huge hut at the far end of town which Meredy assumed is the school building with the teacher trailing after them at the back. The little boy who acted as Zancrow in their earlier performance sneaked back to Zancrow and Meredy without the knowledge of his teacher, much to their concealed amusement.

"Yes, Tommy?"

"Just checking, is this onee-chan your..." Tommy let his sentence hang there as he stuck out his pinky finger on his right hand and curled the rest of his other fingers inwards towards his palm. "...this?"

Meredy visibly blushed but there were no visible reactions from Zancrow. If there is, the mask did a good job to prevent it from showing on his face.

"Tommy. You have five seconds."

"Aww! Come on! Skull-nii!"

"Four."

"Pleaseeee. Just a hint! Yes or No?!"

"Two."

"You skipped three! Is it a Yes or a No?!"

"One."

"I'm going! I'm going!"

With speed Meredy will never expect the boy to possess, Tommy ran back to catch up with his friends who were on their way back to school.

"Ignore them." Zancrow spoke out as he walked towards the town hall with Meredy falling in step with him. "The kids obviously don't know what they were saying. Don't let it bother you too much. The townsfolk have been very eager to pair me up with someone for some unknown reason when they knew that I'm still single."

"I-I know." Meredy squeaked out a reply as she tried to regain her composure. For some reason, that innocent question from the boy sparked out a massive reaction from her, much to her confusion. She can't help but keep thinking on a particular thought that had crept up in her mind.

_Why was she hoping that Zancrow said 'Yes'?_

* * *

**AN: The act of raising only your pinky finger in Japanese culture is the meaning of a man's wife, girlfriend, mistress, or even possibly all three. Fairy Tail is written by a Japanese with obvious references to their culture in the manga so I guess it is plausible that the act of raising only your pinky finger in the Fairy Tail world holds the same meaning as well.**

**I really hoped that I had managed to capture the transition of both Zancrow's and Meredy's characters properly and that I had written enough to explain the reasons for the changes without sounding like I'm being long-winded. Meredy also now have a crush on Zancrow as well, even if she doesn't realise it yet. Many will argue that the age gap between the both of them is too big but hey, Meredy is now 16 and Zancrow is only seven years older than her at 23. I know that there is a sizable number of NaWen fans out there in the FF community and NaWen has the same age gap of seven years. If people can ship these two without feeling anything wrong about it, I suppose having a possible Zancrow and Meredy pairing isn't too farfetched as well. Of course, right now it is a one-sided crush on Meredy's part. Zancrow had been, and is still a big part of her life and they only had each other for more than half their lives, I don't think it is a ridiculous notion that she will develop feelings of romantic affections for him. Whether they will ultimately come together remains to be seen.**

**I hope that you enjoy the story thus far. **


	8. Chapter 8- Budding Feelings

"Don't you have to go back to your guild? Won't your friends worry about you?"

"Master is fine with me leaving the guild for extended periods of time as long as I write a letter back or talk to him via communication lacrima at least once a month. Don't worry about it. Why? So eager to get rid of me? It's only been a week, Zancrow!"

"And you are already talking my ears off. I think _I'm_ the one who needs the earmuffs you wear. What happened to the sweet, quiet Meredy? I think I preferred that one." Zancrow replied dryly.

"Well you sent me to _Fairy Tail_. Do you really expect me to remain the same after that? And since when did you have a sense of humour?" Meredy retorted.

"I don't know, maybe I grew one ever since I left the dark guild I was a part of for twelve years? Seriously though, you don't have to suffer with me. Travelling around Fiore to help these backwater towns is a shit job. My sins, my responsibility."

"You sinned so that I don't have to, that means that I'm equally guilty, therefore it's my responsibility as well. Besides, I can go anywhere I want. Where I want to go just happens to coincide with yours, you can't chase me away."

"You are just going to stick with me until I give up on chasing you away, aren't you?"

"I admit to nothing."

Meredy reveled in the satisfaction of winning an argument against Zancrow as he just threw his working arm up in the air in exasperation and continued to walk on ahead. Meredy followed him behind with a skip in her steps, enjoying the time she spends with him. If three years ago someone told her that she can have such a carefree conversation with Zancrow she would have called that person crazy and cut said person into slices with her Maguilty Sodom. The word 'carefree' is not part of Zancrow's dictionary three years ago.

The two of them had just left the previous town since they are now able to protect and run the town by themselves. Zancrow had identified another area that needs help with their problems and had originally wanted to said his goodbyes to Meredy before leaving. However, Meredy simply packed her stuffs as well and followed him on his journey, much to his exasperation.

There's no way she will separate herself from him again. Who knows when will be the next time they meet should he disappear again? With that in mind, Meredy managed to half-pleaded, half-threaten Zancrow to at least inform her before he goes on a journey by himself on the very next day after they reunited. For both of their sake, she won't allow him to disappear on her again.

She needs him as much as he needs her, even if Zancrow himself doesn't realise it. They had stuck by each other for so long in that hellhole that there's no way one can live without the other. What Zancrow is doing is highly dangerous considering that he takes out hordes of dark guilds by his lonesome. He is no doubt a very powerful mage, but that does not reduce the danger that Zancrow puts himself into every single time he accepts a job request by the Magic Council to take care of the country's rampant dark guild problem.

In fact, the danger level will only get higher. According to her own information sources, Zancrow's alias, Skull, already have a sizable bounty on his head in the underworld and the amount is still growing. He is proving to be too dangerous a threat to be left alone by the dark guilds. Right now his best protection is the secrecy of his true identity and the difficulty in tracking him down, which only Meredy and Master Makarov is aware of and none of them will betray him. But if his true identity was somehow uncovered and leaked out, what will happen to him? Zancrow will be hunted by the council for being a former member of Grimoire Heart and also pursued by the dark guilds for thwarting their nefarious plans. No place will be safe for him then. No matter how strong Zancrow is, there is no way a man can fight against an entire world by himself.

Zancrow will die.

Meredy can endure being separated from Zancrow with hopes of seeing him again someday but she cannot live on if Zancrow died. She won't forgive herself if he died simply because she wasn't there to help him.

All because of his stupid thinking on trying to redeem himself. If anything, Meredy felt that he had done more good for the world than the useless officials who made up the Magic Council. They are the very definition of inept. Just look at the number of dark guilds that Fiore housed. If Zancrow can take out so many of them within two years by his lonesome, what excuse do they have? They have the Ten Wizard Saints and an entire army on their side for crying out loud!

Zancrow had long since redeemed himself. What he needs now isn't the forgiveness of others, what he needs is for him to be able to forgive himself. To forgive himself for willingly plunging into the darkness, to forgive himself for doing nothing as he witnessed innocents getting killed all for the sake of his own personal vendetta against the person who killed off his entire family. Was Zancrow wrong? Was he wrong in wanting revenge against the murderer who slaughtered his entire town? Was Zancrow right? Did he made the right choice in joining a dark guild for the sake of revenge? Did he even have a choice for that matter? He was picked up by _Hades_ as a kid. The only way you leave that horrid place was in a body bag.

They are all victims in this cruel, twisted world. If only the council or the royal family have been doing their job right, the both of them wouldn't have to suffer.

But then again Meredy wouldn't have met Zancrow as well. Zancrow would continue to help his Mum run the bakery together with his sister while Meredy will grow up in her hometown miles away on the other side of Fiore. Zancrow was the best thing to have ever happened to her, even if the price was the death of everyone else in her hometown.

Sometimes she hated herself for having such sickening thoughts, but Meredy truly felt that she would not have been able to live on without Zancrow.

"Stop spacing out. You have been doing that a lot ever since we reunited."

Meredy put on an expression of mock annoyance on her face and stuck out her tongue childishly at him. "Well, you are here with me. If anyone managed to sneak past your senses, then I wouldn't have any hope of detecting them either."

"Excuses."

"_Valid_ excuses, Zancrow."

"You can call me Zan."

Meredy stopped abruptly. Did she heard him wrongly? She must have.

Sensing Meredy's abrupt stop, Zancrow turned around to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"I... can call you...Zan?"

"Why not?" Zancrow replied as he continued to walk forward without looking back at her. "I managed to get rid of my temper issue, I don't fly into a rage anymore whenever someone called me Zan instead of Zancrow, although so far you are the only person who I allow to call me by that." He stopped again as he looked back at her. "You coming? I'm not going to piggyback you all the way to our next destination."

Meredy's shocked expression quickly turned into a full-blown smile as she jumped onto Zancrow's back and latched onto him like a koala bear, nearly causing Zancrow to fall face down onto the ground.

"Oi!"

"Come on Zan! Let's hurry to our next destination already! Go! Go! Go!"

"Get _off_ me! I'm not going to carry you all the way there! We have to climb at least three mountains to get there! No way I'm carrying you while doing that!"

"It's only three mountains! You carried me across five of them before during the mission to sabotage Gargoyle's Ear! Thinking back, I still can't believe how hard it was to locate that guild."

"You were like what? Seven? You were a lot lighter back then!"

"Rude." Meredy tsked as she waved a disapproving finger in front of Zancrow's face. "Never comment on a lady's weight, I view that as an insult to a lady's honour. As punishment, I demand that you carry me all the way to our next destination." Meredy pumped a fist into the air. "What are we waiting for? Let's go, Zan!"

Zancrow attempted a biting motion at that offending appendage but Meredy moved her finger out of the way. Seeing that Meredy won't be getting off him anytime soon, Zancrow sighed and accepted his fate. He adjusted his grip on Meredy with his only working arm and continued to march forward.

Meredy: 1, Zancrow: 0

"You are getting off the moment we reached the bottom of the first mountain." Zancrow stated before muttering under his breath. "What the hell was I thinking? Letting you tag along? I'm going senile."

"No, you grew smarter." Meredy nodded sagely from Zancrow's back. "I'm sticking with you no matter what. Not even Zeref himself can tear me away from you. I will go wherever you go."

"Oi, be careful what you say. Don't jinx it. I don't want to see that bastard's face if I can help it. And don't you spout these kinds of words to any guy you see, that just now sounded like a declaration of love. Only say it when you found the guy that means the world to you."

"And you aren't one?"

Zancrow snorted. "I'm seven years older than you, Meredy. You just see me as an older brother figure. You are already sixteen this year. One day you will find the guy who you fall in love with and marry him. You can say these words to him then. Speaking about that, do you have any boys that you need my help in chasing off?"

"I'm not looking for a relationship, Zan. Not for the foreseeable future. They have to be at least at your standard and level in terms of everything. Most importantly, that guy have to treat me like a queen." Meredy replied haughtily before sighing. "Have you seen how the guys at Fairy Tail carried themselves? At least half of them have very skewed perception of what's normal and what's not. And seven years isn't that big of an age gap. I have seen bigger age gaps between couples on my jobs around Fiore. What about you? Found anyone for yourself?"

Meredy's heartbeat became erratically faster as she waited for Zancrow's reply. Zancrow spoke up after a few seconds.

"No. Never thought about it actually. Would be pretty unfair to let her live such a shitty life with me and forced to be constantly on the run. I have no doubt that my identity will be found out one day and when that time comes, I don't want anyone else to be implicated. That includes you, Meredy. If any of the dark guilds or the council gets wind of my identity, you will return to Fairy Tail asap, you hear me?"

"But Zannnn~" Meredy whined. "I just said that not even Zeref himself can tear me away from you."

"And I just said not to spout these kinds of words willy-nilly to any guy!"

Meredy laughed as Zancrow continued his grumbling and she rested her head on his broad back once more. A forlorn expression crossed her face out of Zancrow's sight as Meredy etch this very moment into her memory.

_I'm serious, Zan. No one, not even Zeref can tear me away from you._ Meredy thought out loud in her head as she kept up with her small talk with Zancrow, irritating him at every possible opportunity. After a week with Zancrow since their reunion, she had come to realise and acknowledge that somewhere down the line during these three years when she was searching for him, her feelings of affection for him had unknowingly grew into a romantic one. She didn't dare to say her feelings out loud for fear of ruining their current relationship. She's fine with their current status quo as long as she have an excuse to stay by his side. She fear that Zancrow will leave her if he ever found out her true feelings for him. She is afraid to learn that he will say that he sees her as nothing more but as a little sister.

_I'm sorry, Zan._ Meredy apologised to Zancrow in the privacy of her own mind as they both silently enjoyed the scenery passing by them as they made their way to their next destination.

_I fell in love with you._

* * *

Another half a year passed by the time Zancrow's and Meredy's efforts in helping to rebuild Begonia Village came into fruition, the one that the both of them need to scale three mountains to access. Unlike most of the other towns or villages that Zancrow had helped before, Begonia Village suffered from frequent monster attacks instead of dark mages. Due to the low pay of the extermination mission the village sent out and the difficulty to reach the location of the village, no one had answered their plea for help even after many months. The village was unable to increase the pay of the job request they sent out to incentivise mages to help solve their problem since the village is too poor to do so, leaving their problem unsolved.

Zancrow had easily gotten rid of the monster problem even if he only have one arm to fight with. Meredy had been trying to convince him to switch his ruined left arm for a magical prosthetic similar to what Gildarts is using, but Zancrow refused, much to her frustration. It will be much safer for Zancrow if have two working arms instead of one. But _no_, that stubborn idiot is too focused on trying to redeem himself to consider replacing his left arm, saying that his left arm is a reminder of the sins he had committed.

Stupid, stubborn, obstinate, bull-headed idiot.

Meredy wants to help as well and Zancrow knew that getting her to leave him is a lost cause by now. However, Zancrow steered Meredy clear of all the fighting. He let her do all the 'safe' work that would put her in the least amount of danger. Meredy was a little annoyed by this. She was one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, becoming an S Class mage when she was eight years old even she if was not given an S Class title in Fairy Tail. The S Class trial was still suspended and had not been revived when she left to find Zancrow. Meredy isn't some fragile woman who needs constant protection. She can take care of herself.

Currently the both of them are packing up their stuffs in the hut that they have borrowed to stay in for these six months to head off to their next location. They had gotten wind that a villager had spotted a group of Rune Knights that will be arriving in a few hours. Seems like they _finally_ decided to station some of their soldiers here to protect the village. Zancrow is still a wanted fugitive even if no one if the village knew about it thanks to his disguise but staying here is no longer an option due to the imminent arrival of the Rune Knights. Most of the village's problems had already been solved anyway, the Rune Knights can take care of the rest.

The locals are more than willing to oblige their request to keep their stay here and where they are heading off to next a secret. To them, the two of them were a godsend and their village's saviors. Apparently, it was the same in the previous towns that Zancrow had helped out as well, it is partly why the world had such a hard time tracking Zancrow down since none of the people that Zancrow had helped were willing to betray him. Adding on to the fact that Zancrow tends to visit places that most people don't even knew existed, the independent mage known as Skull to the magical community becomes an even more elusive figure to them.

"Where are we heading to next?" Meredy asked as she continued to pack her stuffs.

"Haven't really decided. I might take on job requests to exterminate some dark guilds next. I'm running low on money and I'm feeling a little rusty. Fighting something challenging sounds like a good idea." Zancrow replied from the other end of the room as he packed up his stuffs as well.

"I still don't get why you can't just join a legal guild." Meredy huffed. "If you can erase my records, you can easily do so for yours back then. I understand if you want to do some good for the world to repent for your sins, but why can't you do it as a legal mage?"

"It's...different." Zancrow replied lamely. "After my experience in Grimoire Heart, I'm not sure if I want to join another guild. Besides, I have grown to enjoy the freedom of being an independent mage, even if right now I'm basically just a tool for hire for the council. I didn't plan on leaving Tenrou Island alive either, so erasing traces of my involvement with Grimoire Heart seemed redundant back then."

"Fairy Tail is alright. You sent me there out of all the other guilds that you could have chosen. Just come back to Fairy Tail with me, Master Makarov can help us to think of a way to help you become a legal mage. He have some sway in the council simply by being a Wizard Saint. You can always continue to help villages and towns like these after that."

Zancrow said nothing, but Meredy knew that Zancrow probably won't consider her suggestion as a possible option. He still loathes himself even if he had forgiven himself somewhat.

Some part of him still blame himself for all the destruction he helped caused, even if most of them were done so indirectly.

"I will think about it." Zancrow finally spoke up after a moment of silence. "But for now, I think I prefer the current arrangement. Do you want to stop somewhere near Magnolia for a short while on our way to the nearest council's branch office? You do have friends now in the guild."

"I have been keeping contact with them with the communication lacrima I brought with me but you just magically disappear during every single conversation I have with them. I've been wanting to do a proper introduction of you to them, you know?" Meredy chided as she placed her hands on her hips. "But a trip back to Magnolia does sound nice. And don't you _dare_ disappear on me again, you hear me, Zan?"

"Wouldn't even dream of it." Zancrow replied with a roll of his eyes. "But I'm not stepping a foot inside Magnolia."

"Deal. I will just carry you in then, you will don't even need to use a single foot."

Zancrow just gave a 'are-you-serious' look at Meredy, which Meredy challenged with a 'I'm-totally-serious-come-change-my-mind-if-you-can' stare. Zancrow simply shake his head before returning to whatever he was doing.

"I'm serious! I'm going to let you meet my entire guild no matter what you say or do! They can keep secrets! You don't need to worry about them!"

"Met them once three years ago when I asked Makarov to take you in, found them too crazy for my tastes. Good try, but you need to try harder to convince me."

"How about because I'm just going to physically drag you there anyway?"

Meredy stifled her laughter as she saw Zancrow's form twitching in annoyance.

"Ever since we met up again half a year ago, I suddenly have no right or say in anything." Zancrow grumbled. "I long to be free one day."

"You are stuck with me for your entire life, so suck it up and deal with it."

"Meredy..."

"Ya, I know, don't spout things that sounds like a love confession to any guy cos you might give the wrong impression yada yada yada. You are sixteen now blah blah blah. You need to take care of your image or no boys will want you etc etc etc." Meredy waved her hand dismissively. "I know, I know."

Zancrow just stared at her in a deadpanned manner.

Meredy smiled back sweetly.

Zancrow's eyebrows rose higher.

Meredy's smile grew even wider.

"I give up." Zancrow sighed and turned back in a sign of defeat.

Meredy: 218, Zancrow: 0

Yes, she has been secretly keeping track of her victories of her argument against Zancrow ever since that day Zancrow told her to call him Zan. It has been one of her favourite ways to pass the time. She can't help it, the current Zancrow is just so fun to tease.

Zancrow and Meredy both finished packing their personal belongings and they moved to exit the hut and leave the town. Zancrow donned his mask and cape to assume the identity of Skull once again. They didn't even made it ten meters from their hut when one of the villagers ran towards them, panting for breath.

"Skull-sama! Meredy-sama! Dark guild!" The man, who was a simple farmer in the village, nearly collapsed onto the ground when he reached the mages. "We are under attack from a dark guild!"

Meredy cursed in the confines of her mind. The Rune Knights are arriving at any moment now and this dark guild chose now of all times to show up? Zan's identity might be blown!

Could this day get any worse?!

* * *

**AN: **

**Edited: 26/2/2019**

* * *

**I took away the ranting portion since after I had cooled down somewhat, I realised that it is a very immature thing for me to do. Sorry if my rant had spoiled the experience in reading RC. However, I do wish that if you guys ever want to do reviews on stories, not just mine, please note the tone that you are using to write in. We writers are humans too. We have feelings. And if the story that you are reviewing is one that you enjoy, it does not make sense to piss off the writer that is writing your favourite story, no? **

**If you really cannot agree with what we writers write about, you can always choose to continue not reading the story. That is an option too. There are differences between opinions, constructive criticisms, and straight up flaming or just being plain rude.**

**I will still leave the part on my take of the loss of Zancrow's arm, and why I feel that it is not such a big deal. So here it is.**

* * *

**Zancrow's arm is not even gone, just lost its functionality. I had planned for a much worse outcome for Zancrow, to be honest, like what had happened to Layla. Grimoire Heart is famous for its Lost Magic. Lost Magic are called as such for a reason.**

**So on the discussion of Lost Magic. Why are they called as such? **

**Because most of them have drastic consequences in using it.**

**Dragon Slayer Magic: Ignoring the fake second gen slayers, the original magic caused the process of dragonification, many users have lost their mind according to Irene, the inventor of said magic, and it caused them motion sickness, which is a pretty big weakness.**

**Arc of Time: Not applicable to living objects, well, that's still ok. But do you remember the cost that Ultear paid to use Last Ages? Her time was stolen.**

**Great Tree Arc: Azuma turned into a freaking tree from overuse of his magic.**

**Human Subordination magic: Just look at how Zoldeo met his end. Enough said.**

**So is it a very big stretch to say that there is a weakness for God Slayer magic as well? God Slayer magic wasn't explored despite it being an OP magic so I invented the weakness on my own, the constant bloodlust, in this case, and it might cause the user to berserk. Is it such a stretch to say that there might be a spell or two of the magic that might need sacrifices from the user to invoke? I don't think so.**

**This is just a fiction story. It is not even real, so there are room for some unrealistic things to happen. Sasuke lost an arm and he is pretty much god-like. Gildarts lost an arm, a leg, and some missing organs and he just went to get some prosthetic limbs and continued to be the overpowered badass that he is. G****enryusai Yamamoto lost an arm trying to kill Aizen and it took the Quincy King to finally kill him by stealing his bankai. It wasn't even a fair fight. ****Is Zancrow losing an arm _that big_ of an issue here?**

**Zancrow's arm is going to stay the way it is.**

**I only wanted to write a more realistic story of FT, not a story and outcome where 'the power of friendship' triumphs all. The power of friendship is pretty bullshit. Good for one use, but anything more than that is just plain unrealistic. This is the kind of story RC is. That's why I classified it under hurt/comfort.**

**The Fairy Tail verse is inherently a fucked up world despite all the sunshine and rainbows. Look and analyse the story closely and you will see why. It's there since chapter 1. Slavery? That's a pretty damn big clue. I want to show that the FT world is inherently prejudiced. Only 10% of the people in the world can use magic. What happens when they can use it? Look at how Mirajane and her siblings were treated before they joined FT. Given the treatment non-magicals treated kids with magic, no wonder that there were so many dark mages running around killing people.**

**Despite how it is being portrayed, the world of Fairy Tail isn't a fairy tale. I love the story, I really do. But the plot armour is so thick it is ridiculous.**

**Hope this doesn't take away all the joy you felt when you read RC to this point. It wasn't my intention.**


	9. Chapter 9- Forgive Me

There's so many of them.

Even when Meredy joined Zancrow in protecting Begonia Village and preventing the dark mages from reaching it, there's only so much the two of them can do when the entire village is surrounded by nearly all sides. Luckily, the village is small enough for the two of them to defend easily.

"Why the hell are they so interested in Begonia? There's nothing of interest here!"

Meredy agreed with Zancrow's words as she slashed at another group of dark mages with Maguilty Sodom. Deciding that she have enough, she linked the senses of another group of dark mages among themselves with Maguilty Sense and knocked out one of the dark mage affected with a swift chop to the back of his neck. The rest of the group followed suit as they collapsed.

"It would be helpful if you did this sooner. Why don't you do this to the entire group?"

"I don't have yet enough control in this function of my magic to ensure that I don't accidentally kill them, Zan. A group this large is the maximum I can do without losing control."

"I see. By the way, get down."

Meredy didn't hesitate for a second and immediately ducked her head as Zancrow shot a large cone of flames where her head once was towards a dark mage who had somehow managed to sneak up to her undetected. Meredy sent a few Maguilty Rays at a bunch of dark mages who is trying to attack Zancrow's now undefended back and blasted them unconscious.

"There's too many of them!" Meredy exclaimed as she stood back to back with Zancrow.

Zancrow pointed his index and middle fingers at the largest group of the dark mages and gathered a sizable amount of magic in preparation for a spell.

"Living Magic: Tigers."

The numerous rocks strewn about the two of them morphed and transformed into living tigers as they roared and pounced onto the group of dark mages, neutralising them immediately.

"That's..."

"Ria's eye magic. I can now use it since her eye is now implanted in me. Her magic is beautiful, isn't it? Thanks to it, the numerical advantage they have is somewhat neutralised."

Meredy gave a nod of agreement as she continued to hold the dark mages back. For his sake, Zancrow have to get out of here soon.

"The Rune Knights will be appearing anytime now, Zan. We are stuck here for way too long, it's already been an hour!" In fact, it's a miracle that none of the dark mages have managed to got past the both of them yet. None of the dark mages they faced are strong, but they swarmed out from the mountains like ants from an anthill. Where have they been hiding all this time?

"Right now my identity is Skull, not Zancrow. So long as my disguise isn't busted, there shouldn't be anything to be worried about even if the Rune Knights arrived. Don't lose your cool, we are in battle now."

"Still, what are the dark mages after?"

"That's what I like to know too. Begonia never had problems with dark guilds before, the only reason why they needed help was the abundance of monsters that tend to raid the town. This is very unusual."

A new group of participants joined in the fray and the duo recognised the group as the Rune Knights who finally appeared onto the scene. Meredy spotted a bunch of Begonia's villagers leading the group of Rune Knights to where the main bulk of the fighting is. Help had finally arrived.

"Took them long enough." Zancrow grumbled.

With the help of the Rune Knights, the dark guild was quickly suppressed and victory was in their sights. The Rune Knights had split themselves up to protect the village, leaving Zancrow and Meredy free to take out the dark guild without any worries for the village's safety. It is only a matter of time now before everything is over.

"Skull-sama! Meredy-sama! Look out!"

Other than the warning from a villager, a glint of light from a metal surface was the only extra warning they got as a huge blast of condensed magical energy shot towards them. Meredy eyes widened in shock as the magical beam shot towards her at an alarming speed. There's no time for her to defend herself. She closed her eyes, waiting for her imminent demise.

She reopened them again when she felt herself getting forcefully shoved away and saw Zancrow standing at the position where she used to be a second ago. Black flames erupted around him as Zancrow casted a spell.

"Fire God's Flaming Shield!"

A massive shield of black flames intercepted the magical beam and a huge explosion resulted from the clash in powers. Zancrow leapt out from the smoke, his mask now destroyed from the impact of the explosion happening too close to him.

"Zan!"

"I'm alright! We need to take down whoever fired that attack or the next shot from it will toast the village! That has to be some sort of cannon! Nothing else could produce a magical beam that powerful and condensed!"

Meredy immediately shot out her Maguilty Rays at where the attack fired from as Zancrow rushed in to destroy the cannon that is now exposed from its hiding place thanks to Meredy's attack.

"Fire God's Scythe!"

Meredy watched in satisfaction as the cannon was cut into two before getting devoured by Zancrow's flames. She walked closer to where Zancrow is, only for an alarmed expression to cross Zancrow's face before he shouted at her.

"Meredy! Get away! This is a trap!"

Numerous rune marks appeared on Zancrow's body as it shimmered into existence to restrain him. The area around him glowed startling bright and another explosion erupted at where Zancrow stood.

A pillar of black flames cleared the smoke as Zancrow emerged from the explosion alive, but utterly exhausted from defending himself against another huge explosion so close to him. He had lost his left arm as well and it is now a stump.

"Zan! Your arm!"

"I'm fine. The arm was as good as dead to begin with anyway, maybe now I can get the prosthetic you have been harping about. I wonder what was used to induce that explosion? I couldn't eat the flames." Zancrow replied tiredly as he nearly fell onto the ground but Meredy managed to catch him in time. Zancrow turned to Meredy but an alarmed look crossed his face when he spotted the approaching Rune Knights. He quickly spoke to her.

"I'm afraid my identity has been leaked, Meredy. The Rune Knights have probably seen my face by now and will no longer see me as Skull, but Zancrow of Grimoire Heart. You need to get back to Fairy Tail, I don't want to implicate you. Leave before they arrive."

"I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Don't be stubborn! Go! Don't make me use Apollo's Chariot again! I don't want anything to happen to you!"

"Then what about you?! The council will probably give you a death sentence at worst or a life imprisonment at best! You-!"

"Meredy." Zancrow interrupted with a smile on his face. "Thank you, and goodbye."

The last thing Meredy remembered was Zancrow's smile before she fell unconscious.

* * *

"Master! Master! Are you there?! I need your help! Please!"

Makarov immediately jumped to attention from where he was napping on his office desk after going through piles of paperwork. He immediately rubbed away the sleepiness from his eyes and looked at his communication lacrima sitting on the side of his office table.

"Meredy? What's going on? Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine! But Zancrow was caught! He was captured by the Rune Knights! He's on his way to face his trial as we speak! Please! Save him! The Magic Council won't be lenient with him!"

Makarov's face turned gravely serious. Gran Doma is the Chairman of the council now, and he is very heavy-handed in how he does things, not caring about the consequences as long it benefits the council's image. Zancrow may get a slightly lighter sentence since he did a few noble acts throughout these years under the alias of Skull, the villages he helped can attest to that. It also helps that the citizens of Fiore have a favourable impression of him. Zancrow should be safe from the Magic Council's wrath for the time being. The Magic Council have been wanting to portray themselves in a favourable light for quite some time now, especially since their reformation after the incident with Etherion. Zancrow is now providing an opportunity for them since he was a very important member of one of the three dark guilds that led the Balam Alliance. The Magic Council will want to set an example using Zancrow. Zancrow will land himself in hot soup if nothing is done soon.

"Don't worry Meredy. Fairy Tail will not let anything happen to Zancrow. We will do our best to ensure his release." Makarov reassured her.

"It's time for Fairy Tail to repay her debts."

* * *

I don't know how long I was locked up for.

The Rune Knights arrived at my location shortly after I knocked Meredy out. I could have escaped, but I was drained of magic and heavily injured from experiencing two direct blasts of magical explosions so close to me. Furthermore, if I escaped, the Rune Knights may or may not place the blame on Meredy and I don't want to risk that since they saw how we fought alongside each other. If a mage from a legal guild is seen fighting alongside an infamous dark mage, what will happen to her? I don't want to know and I don't want to implicate anyone, especially Meredy.

I denied all relations to Meredy in front of the entire village. The villagers were confused by my reaction since they knew Meredy and I were very close to each other after we spent six months with them but with a few subtle hints, they played along.

The villagers were in an uproar when the Rune Knights placed magic-restraining cuffs on my remaining wrist, tied me up in chains and led me away in a reinforced carriage to bring me to wherever they are supposed to bring me to. The villagers tried to argue for me by stating what I did to help their village during my six months here and that I had just saved the village from an attack that the Rune Knights were almost unable to prevent since they were late. It didn't matter to the captain of the Rune Knights, who seemed eager to claim a promotion at the thought of capturing such a high profile dark mage like me.

I calmed the villagers down by explaining in a few short sentences that before I became their saviour, I was a sinner. I was a dark mage whether they believed it or not. None of them believed me, but I told them to check it up on their own when they have the time. I was led into the carriage that will be sending me to the Magic Council while blindfolded under the watch of the disgusting man who called himself the captain of the squad of Rune Knights. It's people like him that innocent citizens were left undefended in the times when they needed their protection the most.

Like what had happened to my hometown, Azalea.

I had seen many people like this captain during my travels. They only want the glory and fame but they were always to first to scamper off in fear whenever danger reared its ugly head. No wonder the dark guilds in Fiore are so bold in their attacks.

When my blindfold was taken off in what seemed like an eternity, I was surprised at where I ended up in.

I've never been to the place before, but I'm pretty sure this is the royal palace that is situated in Crocus.

Why am I here and not at the Magic Council? Any affairs regarding magic is usually taken care of by the Magic Council, the royal family rarely had a say in these matters unless it affects them personally. I had never done anything to merit such a treatment either, so what is going on?

A girl, no doubt a royalty, appeared before me in the room where I was waiting with the guards watching me.

"Kneel. This is the princess of Fiore."

I didn't budge. The royal family don't deserve my respect. They weren't there to help save my family when we needed it the most, the same goes for the Magic Council. They had failed their duty to protect their citizens which they have sworn to protect.

I won't kneel to a self-entitled girl simply because she was lucky enough to be born a princess.

One of the guards kicked me at the back of my knees, forcing me to kneel down. Bastard.

"Arcadios, he is a God Slayer?"

The armoured knight beside the princess respectfully replied. "Princess, he is the Fire God Slayer, Zancrow. Formerly of the dark guild Grimoire Heart."

I held my head high even when I was forced onto the ground. I have my own pride.

"Then let's get on with the experiment."

I see now. The royal family is conducting an experiment that involves God Slayers and I just happened to be a candidate. Wonderful. No wonder I was brought here instead of the Magic Council. How many strings did they pull to get me here?

"Any last words, criminal?" The princess asked me as we made our way to wherever they are leading me to, walking around the huge palace through a series of twists and turns. We seemed to be heading somewhere underground.

"You and your father have more blood on your hands than mine. I hope you can sleep soundly at night with that knowledge."

That comment did grab their attention and earned me a hard punch on the face from the knight named Arcadios.

"Watch your mouth! A criminal like you has no right to compare yourself to the princess!"

"Oh yeah?" I replied as I turned my head back to face the princess and stare at her in the eye. "Ever wondered why I ended up a dark mage?"

The princess remained silent but it was obvious that she is feeling uneasy and a little curious at the same time. Heh, time to get her head out of the rainbows that she was fed with in this stuffy palace.

"No one saved my family when Grimoire Heart eradicated the entire town I lived in. That was fifteen years ago. Aren't the kingdom and the Magic Council duty-bound and sworn to protect its citizens? Where were you guys when they killed my Mum and sister? How many towns and people have perished because you guys can't do your fucking job?" I directed the question to the princess. "How many towns had been destroyed by dark guilds in the last two decades?"

The green-haired princess is trembling right now. Whether it is in rage, shock, or embarrassment I will never know, nor do I care.

"The bloods of the innocents are on your hands too, sweety." I said as I allowed my psychotic persona, a side-effect for using God Slayer magic, to surface. "Every person you failed to save is more blood on your hands. You are the _princess_, aren't you? You and your father are supposed to protect us, the citizens. Where were you guys when we needed you the most?"

"Shut your trap! You are a member of Grimoire Heart! You are not making any sense! Why would you join a guild that killed your family!" Arcadios boomed out.

"I joined for the sake of revenge." I replied. "I figured that if you guys can't take them down, then I will do it myself from the inside. Took me twelve years, but I managed to kill Hades, the bastard who killed my sister for the sake of obtaining her Eye Magic. That same eye is now sitting in my head after I ripped it out of that bastard's skull." I blinked my implanted eye that sits in between the scar on the right side of my face for emphasis and leaned in closer to the princess. "My sister is _watching_ you, princess."

The princess is visibly shaken by my words and I counted that as a victory. If I were to die, then I might as well do it in an effort to better the world. If my last words can spur the princess in doing a better job in governing the country, then I guess it is worth it. She looked vaguely familiar though, and I guessed that she might have played a role in canon. I had forgotten a lot of the events that happened after the Tenrou arc. It wasn't important as I didn't planned on surviving beyond that point, so I let my memories of it be forgotten during my quest for revenge. It has been more than twenty years since I was reborn into this world, most of what I remembered of canon is now a muddied mess, especially so for the events that happened after the Tenrou arc. I only remembered the details for the Tenrou arc as it was the point where I have chose to be the best time for me to enact my plans for revenge, so I commit every brain power I have to remember every single detail of that arc.

I was soon led into a room where a huge gate is being housed. It has a large door big enough to fit even a wyvern and is elaborately designed. I recognised this gate immediately, I had saw its blueprints before when Grimoire Heart is researching on Zeref and his creations. I can recognise an invention of Zeref when I see one.

"The Eclipse Gate." I whispered out.

"You know about it?" The princess asked out loud without looking at me.

"Please. I am an ex-member of Grimoire Heart, a guild that was dedicated to Zeref. Give me some credit."

"That make things simpler for all of us then. You will have the honour of being the first person to power the weapon."

"Huh? Weapon?"

What the hell is this idiotic girl talking about?

"You talk about knowing about Zeref, but yet you don't know what is the gate's purpose?"

"The Eclipse Gate is built to travel through time." I replied. "I don't know why you refer to it as a weapon."

The princess's eyebrows furrowed. "It is a weapon. It will be our weapon for salvation when the dragons attack our country four years from now."

I can't help but laugh out loud at that statement. This is fucking ridiculous.

"Nice try, princess, but I have saw the blueprints for the gate before. This is no weapon! It merely connects two separate time periods to allow time travel! HAHAHA!"

"Laugh all you want, I have it in good faith that my information is correct. Your sacrifice will help to protect the country."

"Oh, who is your informant?"

"A dying man does not need to know." Arcadios replied gruffly as he pushed me away from the princess with a rough hand.

"I asked the princess, not you." I said before turning my attention back to the princess. "Humour me. I'm a dying man after all."

"Someone from the future. That's all I can tell you."

"Pffft." I tried in vain to stifle my laughter as my shoulders shook from how ridiculous the whole thing seems. "And you are sure this person is not harbouring any evil intentions? Newsflash, princess. Not every time traveler travels through time to save the world! You are too naive!"

"Insolence!" My face was punched once more by Arcadios. "You shall treat the princess with respect!"

"Do what you want." I replied offhandedly. "Why do you need a God Slayer anyway?"

The princess continued to fiddle with some sort of control device which I assume is being used to control the gate. Or something. I cannot tell from where I am standing. "From our findings, we believed that through using the powers of a God Slayer, especially a powerful one, it is possible to quickly fill up the magic power needed to use the gate, more so than using the powers of any other type of mage. I don't know why the gate reacts to God Slayer magic the way it does, but there's no real need to know. However, the process will most likely kill the God Slayer in question. The only other two God Slayers that we know of belongs to legal mage guilds and they are respectful citizens of the country. They don't deserve such a treatment."

"Ah, since I am a dark mage and will most probably be sentenced to death or life imprisonment anyway, I'm the perfect candidate to experiment on. That's why you brought me here and not to the Magic Council. This is why I'm not even given a trial. Everything is supposed to be hush-hush and you don't want to risk the chance of me not getting sentenced to death. You will lose your 'power source' otherwise."

"You are correct. I'm sorry for doing this to you, but it is necessary. Any last words? Or if there is something that is reasonable enough and within my power to do so, I can grant it before your life and magic is being absorbed into the gate."

I remained in deep thought for a short while. The only thing now that anchors me to this world is Meredy and her well-being, and I have already done all I could to make sure she's happy. I even managed to say a goodbye to her before I was whisked here.

I have no more regrets.

"You are being used." I said to the princess as I stared at the gate that according to the princess, will be my executioner. "One day when this shit finally explodes in your face in one big mess, you will look back at this very moment and realise how wrong you are. I hope you remember my words that I said to you. I hope you remember this exact moment. And I really hope that should things really go bad, you have a way to remedy it." I said out loud and turned to face the princess one last time.

"I hope you are prepared for the thousands of lives that are sitting in your hands."

"I am. That's why I'm doing this."

"Good." I said as my guards strapped me in chains onto a chair placed a fair distance away from the Eclipse Gate in front on it and they made their way out with the princess and her knight to watch from a safe distance. With a press of a button, the process started.

The sounds of the whirl of the machination known as the Eclipse Gate roared to life as I felt my magic getting sucked into it forcefully. There's no way anyone can survive such a forceful extraction process. Even if I somehow survived, I will definitely be riddled with a severe case of Magic Deficiency Disease later on.

_"Magic output-"_

I tuned the words from the people who I assumed are the scientists or researchers involved in this project as I watch the Eclipse Gate shine from absorbing my magic.

_"Abnormal signals detected! No way! This isn't possible!"_

I closed my eyes as my magic was drained and let a sense of resignation took over me. Surprisingly, I don't feel sad or anything. In fact, I felt relieved and happy. I'm finally able to go see my family for real this time.

_"Run! The gate's opening!"_

_"How?!"_

_"Get the princess out of here!"_

Dad, Mum, Ria. I'm finally going to be able to see you.

And

Goodbye, Meredy.

Forgive me, I've broken my promise once again.

* * *

**AN: Before you guys start to ask, no, this is NOT the ending of RC. There's still a few chapters left.**

**According to FT wiki, it wasn't specified when exactly the GMG was created and when exactly the Eclipse project was started, and even if the project started in X784, it wasn't specified that the gate has been in use since then. Hence, I just used that lack of information to create this plot. If you guys find this to be inconsistent with some canon plot that I am somehow unaware of, then just treat it as an AU or a butterfly effect.**

**On a side note, after I have cooled down I found my response to the reviews a little too overreactive and I have decided to take it down. I apologise for the immature behaviour and especially so if it spoiled the experience in reading RC. My views still stands though.**

**My previous outburst have also prompted me to give a second thought on how I want the story to end. After much deliberation, I think it might be better if I add another chapter to RC and change the ending to something more... explainable? I don't know how to describe it and I don't want to give any spoilers. However, after RC, the next FT fic I will write will be what I ranted about in the previous chapter. It will be about a guild that takes in children with magic who are being discriminated against or who are unable to lead a proper life of a mage for whatsoever reasons. I have some ideas in my head already, but the story probably won't come out anytime soon as I want to complete my other existing stories first.**

**Hope you enjoy this story.**


	10. Chapter 10- For You

Meredy sat silently at the corner of the tavern that the entire guild is resting at and partying as she took small sips from her mug. It is the annual Grand Magic Games and Fairy Tail had decided to go all out this year by sending out their strongest mages. Meredy had politely asked to be excluded from the games when Master Makarov was drafting the teams. The guild didn't put up a fuss, knowing her dislike in coming to Crocus in the first place. It's her first time coming here in four years, and it was only because that the _entire_ guild was coming here this year that she steeled herself and went along to support the two teams that are participating in the games.

It's not like she didn't want to support her fellow guild mates, she just have issues with the location at where the games were being held.

It has been four years since Zancrow died here in Crocus.

Four years ago after the siege on Begonia, Zancrow was already taken by the Rune Knights when Meredy had finally woken up. She immediately contacted Master Makarov to ask for his help, which he readily agreed. They had been prepared to deal with something like this as none of them wish to see Zancrow walking down such a lonely and possibly destructive path. This crisis might just be the chance to get Zancrow back into the light, like what he did for her.

Meredy had also managed to locate the villages and towns that Zancrow had previously helped before under the alias of Skull, and the people who had received Zancrow's help at one point or another were more than happy to help vouch for their saviour even if they were shocked that he used to be a dark mage. They weren't too bothered by it, Zancrow was the one who had saved them and that is all that matters to them.

Even with the whole of Fairy Tail helping out, it took more than a week to finally collect all relevant evidence, testimonies, and come up with possible arguments that they can use to help Zancrow. Some of them were recorded using lacrimas, others were written by hand by witnesses and signed. By the time Master Makarov and Meredy traveled to the Magic Council's headquarters that the both of them were sure that Zancrow is being held at, it had taken two weeks. Everything should have went along smoothly, only that no one accounted for a single factor.

The single, most crucial factor that led to Zancrow's death.

It came as a terrifying shock that Zancrow is not even being held at the headquarters of the Magic Council. If not here, then where?! It is standard protocol that all magic-related trials will be held here, especially so for such a high-profile dark mage like Zancrow!

Master Makarov immediately went to find out the details and Meredy had never been more glad that Master Makarov was a member of the Ten Wizard Saints. Getting information using his position is a lot easier as compared to anyone else.

They eventually found out that Zancrow had been escorted to Crocus instead. To make things worse, the royal family had requested for Zancrow to be moved to the royal palace for questioning.

This situation immediately gave a sense of foreboding to both Meredy and Master Makarov. The royal family rarely get involved with affairs regarding magic and mages alike. If they had intervened, it's very likely that something bad is about to happen. Something very bad and irreversible.

Unfortunately, that was what had happened.

They spent two weeks in Crocus trying to request an audience with the King. By the time Master Makarov and Meredy were granted an audience, they found themselves meeting the Princess of Fiore instead. The princess regarded them with an aloof expression in her eyes and started off their conversation with a single sentence.

_"The person you are looking for is dead."_

Zancrow's dead.

_A lie. It has to be a lie. There's no way Zancrow is dead._

The reason the princess gave was that Zancrow had committed a grave offence to the royal family and upon their decree, he had been sentenced to death by the hands of the Garou Knights, the executioners who worked for the royal family. The princess simply brushed Zancrow's death aside with a few sentences and left Makarov and Meredy in the meeting room reeling in from the shock. The entire meeting didn't even take two minutes.

Meredy would have killed the princess in her rage right there if it wasn't for Master Makarov restraining her. Meredy knew Zancrow better than anyone else. There's no way Zancrow would have wanted to tangle himself with the royal family willingly. He had been travelling around Fiore helping backwater villages and towns that needed aid! How would he have been able to commit crimes against the royal family in that kind of situation?!

Meredy had never felt so much hatred in her life before, not even when Zancrow had come clean and admitted to her the truth on why her hometown was destroyed. She would have used Maguilty Sense to kill every single individual in the palace if she hadn't been forcefully restrained by Master Makarov. Killing them would be easy. All she had to do was to link all of their senses together, kill just a single helpless person, and the rest of the people in the palace will follow. The aspect of 'shared death' is what made Maguilty Sense so deadly. Zancrow had made her promised not to use this aspect of Maguilty Sense unless strictly necessary, saying that this is not the true purpose of her magic. Her magic is to share and strengthen, not to kill, even if it can be the perfect assassination weapon in the wrong hands.

But right then Meredy didn't care. She wouldn't have cared about the consequences. Why would she care? Zancrow is dead. There's no one to nag at her now for the little things she did to purposely irritate or annoy him. He wouldn't be there anymore looking over her silently as her silent protector from the shadows. He is no longer there for her, there is no one else to keep her promise to. So why would she care if she was convicted of murdering the entire royal family of Fiore?

Her entire world has been torn away from her, _again_. The only difference this time is that the effect is permanent. Unlike the previous time, Zancrow is no longer coming back to her. He's no longer here.

_She's all alone again. The world lost its colour the moment Zancrow is dead._

Meredy didn't even have a body to bury. All she could do for Zancrow was to erect an empty grave located at Kardia Cathedral where she can mourn for him in private. She will no longer have the chance to express her true feelings to him. She will live with that regret forever weighing in her mind.

After a lot of screaming and kicking with Master Makarov forcefully dragging her out of the royal palace and getting the both of them back to Fairy Tail, Meredy regressed into a depressed state for a long time. Master Makarov and the entire guild was beyond furious as well at the turn of events.

In Makarov's opinion, the royal family held too much power and had stuck their nose in places where it had no business in. They have no right to interfere with the laws of the magical community unless the situation warrants it, which is not the case for Zancrow's predicament. This needs to be put to a stop.

To address the unfairness of the issue, and also partly to spite the royal family for causing such sorrow to one of his children, Makarov had decided to publicise the unfairness of the entire issue with Meredy's consent. If even mages like Jellal and the Oracion Seis who had heavily sinned were given a fair trial for their crimes, it did not make any sense that Zancrow did not get one. Hell, none of the dark mages stated above even got the death sentence, all they got was life imprisonment. Zancrow's crimes were definitely a lot lighter than theirs seeing that he only killed dark mages for Grimoire Heart in the common spats between dark guilds. Even if Zancrow were to be found guilty simply by being a Grimoire Heart mage, it definitely shouldn't warrant a death sentence. To paint Zancrow in a better light, his other alias, Skull, was also revealed to the public and the news spread like wildfire upon the revelation. Because of Zancrow's controversial deeds, no one really knew how to judge him, or the entire affair in general.

Once more with Meredy's approval, Master Makarov had revealed to Jason, a reporter for the Sorcerer's Weekly, the real reason why Zancrow had joined Grimoire Heart and it won them many supporters. Of course, Meredy's involvement with Grimoire Heart was kept secret together with Hades's true identity. If anyone else asked, Master Makarov will claim that he knew these facts because Zancrow had admitted these facts to him after the Tenrou incident. Master Makarov had also made it public news that if it wasn't for Zancrow helping them willingly, the entire Fairy Tail group on Tenrou Island would have been killed by Acnologia that fateful day. Fairy Tail owe Zancrow a huge debt, but is now unable to pay it back in full.

Is Zancrow truly evil? Did he really warrant a death sentence at the hands of the royal family instead of being judged for his crimes by the Magic Council? He may be a dark mage, but at least he took the initiative to redeem himself and helped those in need the moment his time in Grimoire Heart is over. He had ended many dark guilds with his own hands, including the one which he was once a part of. He gave help to people who needed it when no one else could or bothered to and it made a significant impact on the lives who he touched. Many of the places where he had helped are now starting to flourish. If what the royal family said is true regarding Zancrow's death sentence, then _what_ crimes did he commit exactly?

The Magic Council and the royal family were hard-pressed for a satisfactory explanation and the public were incensed as a result. Many were sympathetic to Zancrow's plight and his history. His story is a reflection of a societal problem in Fiore. It showed how the ruling government is incapable of protecting their citizens and thereby allowing dark guilds to run free and hurt innocents. There were many individuals like Zancrow who had turned to living a life of a criminal after the destruction of their homes for the sake of survival when being a legal and upstanding citizen just isn't enough to keep them alive in these turbulent times, and this keeps going on in a vicious cycle that no one had yet been able to put a stop to. The problem has always been there, it's just that everybody chose to turn a blind eye to it since it did not affect them personally.

Not for any longer. This problem had gone on long enough.

It's time to put a stop to it.

It was in this period that Fiore witnessed the most united front the magical community had ever presented since its founding. The mages had enough of the royal family's meddling in their lives when it was explicitly stated in the constitution that they had close to no power to do so. The mages weren't alone. The magic-less people which made up 90% of Fiore's population joined in too. They had enough of the subpar performance of both the royal family and the Magic Council in dealing with the dark guild problems and the security of the country in general.

It's time for a change. It's time for the government to step up and give help to those in need. If they don't, a revolution will be the least of their worries.

Zancrow didn't have anyone to turn to for help, so he turned to the dark guild who had killed his entire family for survival. Was it wrong? Maybe, maybe not. Did he have a choice?

He didn't. Hades didn't leave him a choice at all when he picked Zancrow up and inducted him into Grimoire Heart. Death is the only ticket out of there.

In the end, the royal family didn't give a satisfactory explanation about the exact crime Zancrow had committed, claiming that it is a national secret and cannot be revealed under any circumstances. The public was outraged, but the entire event was forcefully ceased by both the royal family and the Magic Council and the news died down shortly after despite the negative sentiments by the public. The only good thing that came out of this affair is that the kingdom and Magic Council is now devoting more resources and efforts in ridding their lands of the numerous dark guilds that had made their home here, so the lives of Fiore's citizens did improve, and the public reluctantly took the concession that was offered to them.

Not like Meredy cared. Zancrow is gone. No matter who was in the right or wrong, he is no longer coming back.

She shut herself in her room for days and it was only when Wendy forcefully made her way in and force feed her with food did she shake herself out of her stupor. Meredy had thought that she ran out of tears to cry during her period of self-isolation, but her tears came out once more the moment Wendy hugged her.

The two of them spent their time there in that manner, with Wendy hugging and comforting her while Meredy continued to bawl her eyes out. Wendy then began to tell her life story to Meredy. She told her that their circumstances were similar in certain aspects. Wendy told Meredy that like her, she was picked up by someone when she was very young. His name is Mystogan, an S Class mage who used to be a part of Fairy Tail. Mystogan meant the world to her back then. However, due to his sense of duty and obligation and also being unable to take care of her while going on his self-imposed mission, Mystogan left her at Cait Shelter and it was many years later that they were reunited. Regrettably, their reunion was short lived due to the interference from Edolas, and after everything is said and done, the two of them are now literal worlds apart and unable to see each other again. They didn't even managed to say a proper goodbye to each other.

Wendy will no longer have a chance to see Mystogan, like how Meredy will no longer see Zancrow again.

Wendy admitted that her own circumstances are slightly better as she can continue living with the knowledge that Mystogan is still alive and well. However, she understands the pain Meredy is experiencing and told her that she will be there for her. The entire guild will be there for her.

With Wendy's and the guild's support, Meredy recovered emotionally even if she almost lost her magic from the knowledge of Zancrow's death. The main reason for this is because her magic requires the user to have absolute faith. The stronger their faith and beliefs, the stronger their magic. Zancrow meant the world to Meredy, he is her faith. With him gone, her ability to use Maguilty Sense had greatly diminished.

Luckily, her emotional scars have healed over time and she is now capable of fully utilising her magic again to its full capacity. Zancrow left her here in Fairy Tail believing that they can care for her in ways that he cannot. Zancrow is still her faith, but to be able to use Maguilty Sense again, Zancrow can no longer be her only source of faith. To regain her magical powers, Meredy learnt to truly let her guild into her heart, allowing them to be part of her faith as well. This change of mindset successfully allowed Meredy to use Maguilty Sense again although it didn't quite feel the same as before. Her emotional scars are not fully gone, it still hurts to think that Zancrow is gone, but it does not hurt as much as before.

That doesn't mean that she forgave the royal family. The entire incident surrounding Zancrow's death is still shrouded in mystery but there's nothing Meredy can do to investigate further no matter how hard she tried. Due to her dislike for the royal family, Meredy hadn't took a step into Crocus after Zancrow's death where the royal family is located. It's just too painful for her. Wendy had persuaded her that she have to get over it someday and Zancrow would want her to be happy. He would want her to look to the future, not stuck in the past.

That was the final motivation Meredy needed to come here.

Cheering on for her fellow guild mates at the games was a very good distraction and she had enjoyed every single moment of it, enough for her to manage to forget about her sorrow about Zancrow's death even if it was just for a little while. The spirit of their First Master had also arrived, much to their astonishment, and her arrival added more life and fun into the guild.

If only Zancrow can appear in the same way Master Mavis did.

The final prize for winning the game this year is huge, culminating to 30,000,000 Jewels and it was the main reason why Master Makarov decided to let Fairy Tail go all out this year; the monetary reward is just too much to ignore. Despite how he try to justify his actions that doing so is "to bring honour to the guild", everyone knows that the Master would like some sort of backup cash to pay for the collateral damages his fellow mages love to cause during their missions. Monetary reward aside, what was most important in the end is that the whole guild will be having fun at the games as they pit themselves against some of the strongest mages Fiore have to offer. Fairy Tail had participated before in the previous games before this one. Their previous participants they sent out were also strong, but none of the mages they had sent out were of Laxus's level, for instance. Usually the people who went are those who loves a good fight, like Natsu, Gray and Elfman, and even then they didn't even bother going all out, preferring to make a fool out of themselves just for shit and giggles. When people asked why they don't take the games seriously, Natsu will reply _'Because it's fun like that'_. A few other mages of their guild tagged along sometimes, like Alzack, Max, Jet, Droy, and even Wendy. They had not won the first place in the previous few games they participated, that honour goes to Sabertooth. Fairy Tail wasn't too concerned about winning the games since all they wanted to do was to have fun. Still, even Meredy can't help but notice that none of their S Class mage had fought in the games so far until this year. Gildarts, Laxus, Erza, and Mirajane had never participated in the Grand Magic Games until now.

It was the correct choice to send them out this year as the other guilds had decided to send in their best mages as well. Even Jura from Lamia Scale is participating, which unnerved many of the participants. Both the First Master and Master Makarov had stated that the only one who had a chance to fight on an equal footing with Jura is Gildarts.

Well, Gildarts happened to be out on a quest this very instance so he couldn't come back in time for the games even if he wanted to, so Fairy Tail only have three S Class mages left. The S Class trials is still being suspended even if the incident with Acnologia happened over seven years ago. No one raised any objections about it, the memory of Acnologia is still fresh in the minds for those who were at Tenrou. No one is particularly interested to relieve that memory, even for someone as dense as Natsu. None of the previous S Class candidates cared about not being S Class anymore, their strength had already reached S Class a long time ago. The title of S Class is just that, a title. Why will you need a title of S Class when your strength is already one? Does it really matter?

"Meredy? Are you ok?"

Meredy was brought out of her thoughts as Wendy sat down next to her with a concerned expression on her face. Meredy forced a smile and shook her head.

"I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."

The guild is still partying hard and going about their usual shenanigans. Meredy don't want to spoil the mood, she knew how much her guild had been looking forward to the games this year, especially the kids. Many of the mages in their generation had gotten themselves married and some of them now have kids of their own, like Gajeel and Levy. No one had saw that coming.

"Wendy?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think the Master will allow me to participate in the games if I asked? I mean, I know it's kind of late now to swap out the members on either teams, but..."

To her surprise, the guild fell uncharacteristically silent immediately. How did they hear her over all this noise?!

"Took you long enough, squirt. About damn time."

"Laxus! Don't be rude!" Mirajane chided.

"Well, it's only the first day and the reserve member for Team B hasn't been confirmed yet. So why not let Meredy have a go?" Master Makarov said happily as he downed another mug of alcohol.

"Meredy can take Juvia's place, Juvia can sit the next battle out." Juvia said happily as she gave Meredy a tight hug.

"Gihihi, with pinkie around, our team will win for sure!" Gajeel exclaimed while his son bounced excitedly beside him. The Iron Dragon Slayer pointed at Natsu with a taunting finger. "You hear that, Salamander? Your team is going down!"

"Oh yeah? Even if you do, that's because Meredy will be the one carrying your heavy rusty ass!"

"The hell?! You asking for a fight?"

"Bring it! I ain't scared of you!"

Meredy let a genuine smile creep up her face as another guild brawl erupted. Her heart hadn't felt this warm for a long while since Zancrow had died.

_Zan, are you watching me? I'm doing as you asked, I'm living my life for the both of us._

Meredy clenched her fist as she watched the guild brawl with a fond look in her eyes. She might have lost Zancrow, but she have true friends now, friends that Zancrow had helped her make. She won't let Zancrow down, not after all that he did for her to make this life possible.

_Watch me, Zan. I'm going to win this game for Fairy Tail._

_And for you._

* * *

"Thank you for your help once again, Zancrow. I wouldn't know how I would be able to handle the kids otherwise."

"You were doing fine, you can manage it even without my help. Is there anything else you needed help with before I leave?"

A laughter, unmistakably from a female, rang out like the chirps of a songbird.

"I can handle it from here, thanks for asking. What are you planning to do for the rest of the day?"

"Training."

"_Again_? Do you ever stop training? It's like the only thing you do whole day other than helping me out in the school."

"Whatever. See you later, Anna."

"Stay safe, Zancrow."

I walked out of the hut that serves as the school building and made my way to the isolated clearing a few kilometers away. It has been two years since I found myself approximately four hundred years into the past. I said approximately, because if I have to get technical, I found myself 398 years into the past when I first woke up here. I don't know why I jumped back 398 years into the past instead of any other number, and I had no one to direct my queries to.

About four centuries into the past, I still can't believe it myself.

I don't know _what_ had actually happened. The only thing I know is that something had went terribly _wrong_ when the princess had attempted to use the Eclipse Gate to suck out my magic to store it for future use. From my own speculations, the unique properties of God Slayer magic had somehow managed to open the gate, even if it was just a little crack, during the extraction process and I was sucked through the doors. When I came to, I had found myself in the year X389, where dragons are still alive and rulers of the land.

I guess the grim reaper really don't want me to come to him anytime soon if something as ridiculous as this actually happened.

I was magically exhausted when I first woke up, almost to the point where I suffered from severe Magic Deficiency Disease. I was picked up and nursed back to health by Anna Heartfilia, who chanced across me in my near-death state. I guessed she must be the ancestor of Lucy Heartfilia given how alike they looked and the same family name. She half-carried, half-dragged my battered body to her house not far from where I had woken up. It was from her that I learnt the time period that I had landed myself in. She did ask me where I came from since I am definitely not from the surrounding area and I told her quite frankly that I'm from the future.

She still thinks that it is a joke, but she never pried further about my past.

The Eclipse Gate of this world is probably here somewhere, somewhere near where I had initially woken up in this timeline. There has to be a counterpart of the Eclipse Gate for time travel to happen according to the blueprints I read years ago. I just can't seem to find any signs of it.

Seeing that I have nowhere else to go, I decided to help Anna in running her school which is dedicated to teaching young kids how to read and write. It's located at the outskirts of town a short fifteen minutes walk away. Many of them are orphans, and my respect for Anna grew immensely at seeing how devoted she is to the cause.

Unlike her, I don't think I can handle a full class of rambunctious kids by myself no matter how much I want to help them.

The baffling thing is that a young Natsu is here in the school with Anna as his teacher. I was taken by surprise but it is not totally unexpected. I knew Natsu was born approximately 400 years before my timeline from what little is left of my memories of canon. To add on, I'm pretty sure that I spotted a chibi Gajeel and Wendy. They are from the past as well?

What the hell is going on?

This is probably an important canon plot but I don't know how to deal with it since I don't remember much of canon after the Tenrou arc. All I could do is to keep a wary eye out for anything unusual and silently hope that I didn't change anything for the worse.

I have no idea on what to do with my life here 400 years into the past. Back in my timeline, I at least have a purpose in living. It started off by protecting my family which then morphed into getting my revenge on Hades after my family was killed and then later changed to trying to redeem myself after Grimoire Heart was destroyed. The only living person I cared about is Meredy but we are now separated by a huge gap of 400 years.

What am I supposed to do with my life here?

There's nothing much to do in this era. The technology here is primitive and there isn't much to do for entertainment. I helped out in the town where the school is located in by doing some odd jobs here and there for a living and helped Anna with running the school whenever I can. I tried to see if I can help the town like how I did for the numerous places under the alias of Skull in my original timeline, but I'm largely limited by the funding issue and the technology of this current time. Strangely enough, there is no bounty for me to chase after to accumulate funds, which I attributed to how isolated this village is from the rest of the world. No one really know what is going on outside, it's too dangerous to even travel out of town. The technology that is now available in this era is too obsolete for me to help in doing anything to improve their lives as well. I can maybe try to invent a few things based on my knowledge from my original timeline and my previous life, but I don't want to accidentally cause a time paradox or something with similar effects. Who knows what can happen in the future for every small change I make here? The idea of the butterfly effect deterred me since I don't want to make the future even worse off than it already is, so I rid myself of the notion of doing a drastic makeover for the town. Hence, with nothing else to do, the only way to stave off the boredom is to train my magic.

And train I did.

I initially wanted to go out and explore this unknown world, but the dragons are now the ruling class and it is pretty unsafe to wander out of the protection this town provides against the hordes of winged lizards flying in the sky who eat humans as snacks. To add on, the ethernano in the atmosphere in this timeline is very sparse compared to the one I came from. Recovering my magic powers through natural means will take a way longer time than what I am used to. The town I'm currently residing in is under the protection of a few pacifist dragons and that is the main reason why this town hadn't been obliterated yet.

One of these dragons is Igneel, the Fire Dragon King.

I don't remember much of the series anymore but there's no way I'm going to forget about Igneel. He is the main reason why Natsu, the protagonist, do what he did and his disappearance was the driving force behind the entire storyline.

Igneel is important, I just don't know how and why.

My magic had caught the interest of the dragons but I managed to pass it off by saying that I learnt it from an ancient tome that documented it. It isn't exactly a lie since that was how I learnt God Slayer magic, but at least the dragons didn't pressed on further with their questions.

Learning magic from Igneel is an eye-opening experience. Igneel is very knowledgeable, especially when it comes to magic that is related to fire. He is very helpful in helping me achieve greater proficiency with my magic and even Hades felt like a child if I compared him to Igneel when it comes to the understanding of magic. The tome in which I learnt God Slayer magic from isn't complete, there were many missing pages although there were enough left for me to grow powerful enough to take down Hades in his weakened state. Whatever these missing pages documented could probably explain why I'm sent here during the Eclipse Gate incident, or maybe teach me how to achieve another whole new level of power. I would never know, since these pages were already gone and there's no way I can read it even if I want to.

Under Igneel's tutelage, I have grown a lot stronger even in this ethernano-sparse climate. Igneel is a slave driver and he trained me until I can no longer move in every single one of our training sessions. I suspect that I might have already reach a Wizard Saint's level of strength but I have no real way to test it. The only indication I have of my current strength is that I had actually managed to injure Igneel once during one of our more destructive spars. I had actually managed to make him bleed with my Fire God Slayer magic.

To use Fire magic to injure the Fire Dragon King is an accomplishment to be proud of, a sentiment that Igneel shared as well.

There are very few humans that manage to unlock their magical capabilities in this timeline and most of them are stuck at using very basic forms of magic like elemental magic. In this era, the extent of human's understanding and knowledge of magic is rudimentary at best. Among the humans here, I would have been nigh impossible to defeat, the only creatures that can defeat me are the dragons.

Igneel didn't teach me Dragon Slayer magic, in fact, that brand of magic is not even invented yet. I guess it wouldn't be long until that happens. Already, an imminent war is brewing between the different factions of dragons and if I were to take a wild guess, the upcoming war is when Dragon Slayer magic will be invented.

It's probably how Natsu and the rest learnt their Dragon Slayer magic even if I still can't remember how they ended up in my timeline as a result. I just hope that when they travel to the future which I came from they can take me along for the ride.

It's not that living here in the past is a bad thing. Right here, I'm not a criminal, I can start anew without my sins weighing me down. I don't need to live a life of a fugitive running from place to place in fear of getting caught. Still, if given the chance, I want to go back. I miss home, even if I don't have any place to call home. I miss everything, even if there is nothing much to be missed.

I miss Meredy. I hope she didn't do anything stupid while I'm stuck here in this primitive age. There's no way I can watch over her from here. I cannot save her from here if she ever gets herself into trouble.

As much as I hate to say it, there's nothing much I can do about my situation but to suck it up. All I can do now is to live my life properly for both mine and Meredy's sake.

For her, I will do anything. She was my only reason for living after we destroyed Grimoire Heart.

Even if living in this wretched world is so damn hard, I will do it. I will live. I don't want to break anymore promises to her.

For her, I will do it.

I will live.


	11. Chapter 11- Home Is Where The Heart Is

"Anna! Get the kids and run!"

Igneel and his scaly companions really chose the worst time to be out of town. I don't even know why they aren't here today, they had never left this town undefended before. Something big must be going on.

The town is currently under attack.

By hostile _dragons_.

I could only watch as dozens of dragons swooped down from the skies as they cackled while destroying the town. Some of the unfortunate folks were being gobbled up while some were being crushed under the dragons' massive bodies.

It's a nightmare.

The dragons came when I was helping Anna with teaching the kids. Upon spotting the arrival of dragons that is definitely not on our side, Anna and I escorted the kids through the dense woods as we picked them up and run. Anna is a Celestial Spirit mage and she had summoned two of her spirits to help her carry the kids. My proficiency with my magic had allowed me to create tendrils of tangible flames with properties that does not cause any object it touches to be burnt. Using these special flames, I grabbed onto any remaining kids I see as Anna and I sprinted for the safety of a bunker Igneel and the other pacifist dragons had set up in the woods. It is heavily enchanted and is located not far from where the school is. The enchantment is personally done up by one of Igneel's companion, a Sky dragon. I believe her name is Grandeeney. She is the specialist when it comes to anything related to enchantments. The bunker is the best chance for allowing the kids to survive.

Several of the kids had cried from all the shock and I have to muffle their cries by covering their mouths with tendrils of flames. We don't need their cries to attract the dragons here.

"Hurry! Get in! And stay quiet!"

Anna and I ushered the kids in as we hunkered down in the bunker that is enchanted to stay hidden from the rest of the world. Only the pacifist dragons along with Anna and I know about its existence.

"Wendy! She's not here!"

Anna exclaimed as she frantically checked the bunker for any signs of Wendy. Her spirits helped too as I did a quick head count. To my horror, there is really one missing kid. Wendy is not within the group of kids we had carried over here.

"Wendy's went to pee-pee before the dragons came!" One of the kids shouted out.

Damn. So she's still at the school?! This is bad! Out of all the kids here, the ones who absolutely cannot die are the three future Dragon Slayers. I know they are important to the plot even if I cannot remember why. They must live.

"Anna! I'm going back to find Wendy, you stay here."

"Zancrow! It's too-"

"Wendy's there." I cut her off as I stared at her in the eyes. "She's right there in the thick of things, she has to be terrified. I'm going. You stay here to protect the kids."

Anna clenched her teeth in frustration and worry, but she didn't take long to decide.

"Take Capricorn with you. Celestial Spirits can't die in the human world. As much as I hate to see them getting hurt, they at least will revive back at the Celestial Spirit Realm if killed here. You don't have such a luxury."

"Got it. Thanks."

I sprinted out of the bunker with Capricorn beside me. It's weird seeing him again after I saw him in Grimoire Heart for most of my life. I know the Capricorn I interacted with back at Grimoire Heart isn't the real Capricorn. The one that I knew was someone called Zoldeo, who possessed Capricorn's body with his magic and went by the alias of Caprico. Despite knowing all that, it was hard to adjust to the fact that this Capricorn isn't the same Caprico I knew. This Capricorn is extremely loyal to Anna and totally different from the cruel one I knew back at Grimoire Heart.

Capricorn and I somehow managed to sneak back to the school undetected by the invading dragons. It did not take us long to find Wendy, who is hiding beneath a wooden table and crying.

"Hush... it's alright now, Wendy. I'm here."

Wendy didn't say anything but cling onto my shirt as I felt her tears staining my shirt wet. Capricorn and I made haste in leaving the area, determined to get back to the safety of the bunker as soon as possible.

We were almost at the bunker when a huge boulder dropped at where we would be if Capricorn and I hadn't dived into the covers of the dense foliage at the last second. A large dragon flew down near our location.

"Strange, I could have swore that there were humans here."

Capricorn and I didn't even dare to breathe out a single breath with a hostile dragon so close to our proximity. We were _so close_ to reaching the bunker, damn it! Dragons have an acute sense of smell and hearing, it won't be long before this one locate us.

I pinched the nerves on Wendy's neck as she fell unconscious from that action. I need her to be quiet. I cannot risk exposing the bunker's location if she freaked out and cried. She was scared into silence by the appearance of this dragon, but I have no idea how long she can remain silent for. She's just a child and is not yet smart enough to recognise the severity of the situation.

I quietly passed Wendy into Capricorn's arms, who looked shocked at the sudden action. Seeing that the dragon is still too close to our location for my liking, I decided to write out what I want to say by using my finger to write in the dirt on the ground.

_Take her and go. I will distract it._

Capricorn shook his head furiously as he panicked from my words. I know what he wanted to say. He is a Celestial Spirit and he can't die in the human world so logically, he should be the distraction. However, Capricorn's abilities is not suited for facing a dragon. In my guess, he could only probably buy me about a few seconds before he got swatted back into the Celestial Spirit Realm by the dragon. That is too little time and it might risk exposing the bunker's location if we are unlucky enough. I, however, had managed to hold my own against Igneel even if it was just for a very short while. I have a higher chance of successfully distracting this dragon than Capricorn. I have a higher chance to survive. I can buy more time than him. At the very least, I have ways to ensure that this dragon will not find out about the existence of the bunker.

Most importantly, I need to make absolutely sure that the three future Dragon Slayers live on. I know that they are important to the plot and quite possibly the saviours of the world in the future, even if I cannot remember the reason. They need to be safe.

_You aren't suited in facing it, I am. Take her and go. I will cover you. The moment you see a wall of flames, run._

Without giving time for Capricorn to protest, I jumped out of our hiding spot as I launched my attack by punching onto the ground.

"Fire God's Burning Blast!"

Huge columns of black flames burst out of the ground where the dragon stood as it screeched in pain. I conjured a huge wall of black flames that encircled me and the dragon, blocking its view of Capricorn and Wendy. I spotted them from the corner of my eye as Capricorn quickly took the unconscious Wendy and made a dash for the bunkers out of the dragon's sight.

Good. They will be safe.

I need to get the dragon out of the area as soon as possible. Its attacks might hit the bunker accidentally as collateral damage if we fought here.

"Fire God's Kagutsuchi!"

I punched my remaining arm forward as huge blasts of black flames exploded in the dragon's face. I took the opportunity to run back towards where the school was, I need to get it away from the bunker.

To my delight, the dragon gave chase as it chased after me with its legs instead of flying with its wings. It must be in the 'playing with its food' mentality.

The dragon kept cutting off my escape route by throwing boulders, trees, and any other obstacles it can get its claws on and it kept forcing me to change my directions. It is hot on my heels and I don't have enough time to destroy whatever obstacles it threw in my way if I don't want the overgrown lizard to catch up to me. I mainly kept to running within the forest, hoping to lose my pursuer, but the dragon's keen sense of smell dashed all hopes of that happening.

The dragon finally caught up and a swipe of its claws sent me flying across the forest and I was left in a wheezing heap. Damn, that hurt.

"Playing with your food again, Motherglare?"

"Shut up, Levia. This one's interesting. He can actually fight."

A small group of dragons gathered around me in a circle with me in the middle, looking at me like I'm some interesting specimen they had never seen before.

"He has a lot of magic for a human." One of the dragons who is made entirely of rocks, commented.

"Nah, still weak."

Weak? I will show them weak.

There's no hope of me getting out of here alive now that I'm being surrounded by a group of dragons, but I'm not rolling over and accepting my fate just like that. I will put up a fight, a fight that these dragons will remember for life.

I will teach them not to underestimate humans.

I looked at the surroundings and I soon recognised it. Isn't this where I found myself when I first woke up in this world two years ago? So this is where I will die as well?

How ironic.

Black flames erupted out of me as I began to access a different mode of my God Slayer magic. While training with Igneel, I can't help but draw parallels between my brand of magic and what I knew about Dragon Slayer magic that will be invented in the near future. From my prior knowledge, I know that Dragon Slayers have a mode they can access which people refer to as Dragon Force. It got me thinking. If Dragon Slayers have such a mode, what about God Slayers?

As it turns out, there_ is_ such a mode for God Slayers, it's just that it is so much harder to unlock. I only just managed to unlock it with Igneel's help, and that is done by him experimentally feeding me with some of his most potent flames.

Pretty sure that will be unachievable in my original timeline due to the lack of dragons back there.

"Fire magic? Interesting. Yours feels very different too. This one actually feels dangerous."

"Hah! You getting scared of a human, Scissor Runner?"

I ignored the dragons' banter as my flames shot into the sky in the form of a black burning pillar.

"God Force."

The flames died down as I relished in my newfound power. Entering this mode caused my hair to lengthen significantly, giving me a wild and untamed look. I am still bathed in black flames, but they flicker along my skin instead of lashing out uncontrollably. There are ethereal lines that streaked across my body in various patterns and clung onto my frame, forming figures that resemble flames. My voice become deeper as I felt my mind entering a state of bloodlust. I can feel the dragons backing away in trepidation. They can feel it. They know that I'm now a threat.

"Come. Let's see if the power of gods can slay dragons."

* * *

This isn't supposed to be happening.

Hisui E. Fiore watched with widened eyes as dragons emerged one by one from the Eclipse Gate. No, this can't be happening. Is this how the 10,000 dragons come to destroy the kingdom?

Something was being thrown through the Eclipse Gate at high speeds from the other side of whatever timeline it is connected to. That object crashed into a building a few blocks away, tumbling it down in the process. Another dragon emerged through the gate, wings spread out and roared in the sky in all its glory.

_You are being used._

Hisui sobbed as she covered her mouth with her hands, trying very hard to tear her eyes away from the Eclipse Gate but she _just can't_. This is her responsibility, she have to face it.

_One day when this shit finally explodes in your face in one big mess, you will look back at this very moment and realise how wrong you are. I hope you remember the words that I said to you._

The words of the deceased Fire God Slayer rang in her mind, the very first victim she sacrificed for the greater good. What good did it do? Nothing. She had condemned a life for a futile plan. She regrets her actions, but a life lost can never come back.

He was right, she was being used.

Lucy and Yukino used their Celestial Spirit magic to summon the twelve zodiac spirits to close the gates but it was still too late. Seven dragons had already made it through. Future Rogue laughed madly as he rode upon one of them and he proclaimed that he will usher in the era of dragons, the first step in doing so will be to eradicate all humans from the face of the world.

_I hope you remember this exact moment. And I really hope that should things really go bad, you have a way to remedy it._

The dragons swooped down from the skies at the mages that had rallied to defend their motherland. Both sides clashed in an effort to outdo the other. Today is the day where the fate of Fiore will be decided.

_I hope you are prepared for the thousands of lives that are sitting in your hands._

The Fire God Slayer was right. Hisui didn't remember his name, he is one of the many that she had sacrificed to bring the Eclipse Project into fruition, only to find out that she was being manipulated to advance the plans of a madman.

She isn't prepared for this.

A huge torrent of black flames burst out from a building a few blocks away, it was where the object that was being thrown out from the Eclipse Gate earlier had landed. What is that?

Something, or to be more accurate, _someone_ leapt up high into the sky from the rubble as a huge sphere of black flames looking like a miniature sun flared to life with someone holding it up. No one is able to see how that person looks like exactly, he or she is too far away. That someone threw the gigantic ball of flames like a baseball at the nearest dragon and to everyone's surprise, the dragon was actually being _pushed_ back.

There's hope. There's someone who is able to fight a dragon on even footing.

"Zan?"

Hisui turned and saw a pink-haired mage from Fairy Tail trembling on the spot. Her eyes were wide as she looked on in disbelief. Hisui had saw her participating at the games, her name is Meredy if she recalled correctly. Next to her, the Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy, spun around to look at Meredy.

"Meredy! That magic-!"

"It's God Slayer magic." Orga, a mage from Sabertooth, replied. "There was another God Slayer among us? Someone with that level of power? Why did this guy not appear at the games?!"

"Even I would be hard-pressed to win against such an offensive power." Jura muttered as he skillfully used his magic to defend his comrades. "At least we now know that whoever that mage is, he's on our side if he's attacking the dragons instead of us."

The aforementioned figure is fighting a dragon savagely as black flames so huge that it dwarfed the buildings in Crocus lashed at the dragon. The figure is fighting the dragon alone and is succeeding at pushing it back, isolating it from the rest of the dragons. The very land around the two of them is burning, a feat that is yet to be achieved even by Natsu.

"Assist Scissor Runner! Kill him!" Future Rogue cried out to his remaining dragons. _There was someone on this level of power?! It didn't happen in his future!_

The remaining mages of Fiore split up to engage the remaining dragons in combat, preventing them from assisting Scissor Runner to bring down the unknown mage. At the same time, Meredy broke out of her daze and she dashed towards Scissor Runner and the figure who she knew _have_ to be him. But that's impossible. He died. So how?! WHO is that guy? If it's really Zancrow...

If it is really Zancrow...

"MEREDY!"

Meredy ignored the cries of her friends as she got nearer to the site of battle. Her friends tried to follow but they were intercepted by the hatchlings the dragon Future Rogue is riding on had created. She felt her hopes rising the nearer she got. Zancrow may be alive. Zancrow may be alive!

The black flames had closed off the dragon and the God Slayer in a dome and Meredy could not get any closer unless she wanted to get herself burnt alive. Meredy stomped her foot on the ground in frustration. She wants to know the truth and she wants to know right **now**!

A split second later, the dragon was thrown out of the dome covered in black flames and Meredy had to dodge to avoid getting squished. The dome of flames parted and she finally got a good look at who was fighting the dragon.

It really is Zancrow.

His hair had grown back to its messy long length and his left arm is still a stump. The scar across his right eye is still there. There are ethereal lines that ran along his entire body but that should be a result of the new form his magic took.

Zancrow's alive.

Zancrow had noticed that there is a new arrival to the battlefield as well and the two of them caught each other's eye. Meredy could see Zancrow's eyes widened in shock and she is sure she is giving him the very same reaction. The two of them were stunned into silence for a few seconds.

"Z-Zan?"

"Meredy?"

Zancrow's look of surprise quickly turned into shock as he suddenly jumped and tackled Meredy out of the way. The dragon that Zancrow was fighting jumped back into the fray, furious that he was being suppressed in the previous fight.

"Zan! You are alive! But how?!"

Zancrow didn't reply as he sent an overpowered Fire God's Bellow at the dragon's face, blinding its vision.

"I still don't understand what exactly happened myself, you might not believe me. It's a pretty long story too."

"Keep it short then!"

The dragon quickly recovered and sent a dragon's breath in their way and Zancrow had to lift Meredy up and get them out of harm's way.

"Talk later! We are in battle!"

Meredy said nothing as she employed her magic and linked her senses with Zancrow, pooling their magic in a shared reserve. Her eyes widened in shock again as she felt the vastness of Zancrow's power.

"Since when did you have such a huge amount of magic?!"

"I said talk later you stupid girl!"

Zancrow created a huge avatar made of fire as it wrestled with the dragon, buying them some time. The two mages shared a look and Meredy nodded her head. They don't need to speak out loud to communicate. They both know what is going to be their next move.

Standing side by side and moving in tandem, they both raised their hands in the direction of the dragon. Their magic merged and is released in a combined array of materialised sensory blades and swirling black flames.

"Maguilty Flames!"

* * *

I wasn't expected to be punted back into my original timeline. I had expected to die but it was being thwarted once _again_ like how it did the previous times.

The god of death must really, really, really hate me for this to happen. This is the third time this had happened. First time was the Tenrou incident, the second was when the Princess decided to kill me with the Eclipse Gate, the third time was facing the group of dragons back in the past before getting thrown here.

Seven of these overgrown lizards had somehow made their way here as well.

When I mentioned that I was being punted here, I meant that I was literally thrown through the doors of the Eclipse Gate that I had accidentally found during my fight with the group of dragons that were terrorising the town Anna lived. One of the dragons had grabbed me and thrown me through the opened doors as I tried to prevent them from going through it when the Eclipse Gate opened unexpectedly. We were fighting at the spot which I recognised was where I had woken up when I first arrived in the past. Halfway into my battle, one of the dragons shot a dragon breath at me. To defend myself, I used 'Fire God Slayer's Secret Art: Amaterasu's Fury' to "eat" the spell, so to speak, as the flames from this spell eats away at all forms of magic and uses the eaten magic to fuel its strength. I didn't expect for the collision of both spells to have such a violent result as it tore the entire area apart, creating a huge crater the size of a lake. On hindsight, my flames must have fed on the huge amount of magic from the dragon's breath and having nowhere else to go, it released itself in an explosion. It was an oversight on my part. However, the huge crater that resulted from the clash revealed an Eclipse Gate buried deep underneath the ground.

It was hidden there all along?!

To my horror, the gate began to shine when I happened to land near it and I could only stare on in disbelief as the gate began to open once more, this time it wasn't just a small crack, it is opening even bigger than what I first experienced when I was thrown into this timeline by the Princess. The only thing I saw through the gates was a night sky of the timeline it was connected to, I didn't knew which timeline it was connected to back then. I just know that it would be catastrophic if even a single dragon got through me and walked through the gate, so I defended the entrance without any regards to my life. One of the dragons got tired of getting blocked and somehow managed to get the drop on me, grabbed me with its scaly claws, and threw me through it before making its way here as well.

To my pleasant surprise, I'm back to my original timeline if the brief observation of my initial surroundings were correct. I couldn't say I have the same feeling about being punted through the gate and crashing into a concrete building though.

God Force is still available for a while and I used a huge blast of flames to clear the debris around me. I have to get the dragons under control and away from the huge number of mages I can sense that are located a few blocks away from my location. They will get themselves eaten alive.

One of the dragons that was referred to by the other dragons as Scissor Runner engaged me in a fight and blocked my attempt to direct the other six dragons' attention on me. I don't know who those mages are and I can only trust in their own abilities to survive since I cannot help them now. From what I could see, I think I'm at Crocus, which is not surprising since it is where the Eclipse Gate was located in my time before I was accidentally sent to the past.

What was surprising is to see Meredy here. _Why_ is she here?! It's too dangerous!

My heart nearly got caught in my throat as I saw that Scissor Runner had already recovered from being blasted into another building behind Meredy. She still haven't realised her current predicament. That stupid girl! Can she let me stop worrying about her for once?!

Even after I saved her from being turned into paste she still won't stop asking about how I'm still alive. I was a little confused initially, but getting myself thrown back in time and disappearing from my original timeline must have seemed to her as if I died. There's too much to explain and too little time to do so, there are dragons flying about trying to kill us for heaven's sake. This is just not the right time to celebrate our reunion and to be asking questions.

The combination of our magic caused Scissor Runner to scream in pain from the burns being inflicted on it. The magic of gods are inherently superior to those of dragons, as can be seen when I first consumed Natsu's flames on Tenrou Island all those years ago. I'm not surprised at this result. At this rate, it might be possible to slay dragons with God Slayer magic if we fight carefully.

Unfortunately, I had run out of time in using God Force after that combination attack. It's not something I can sustain for a long period of time due to the strain it placed on my body.

I tried to catch my breath as the power-up from God Force receded and I reverted back to my normal state. Meredy supported me at my side, afraid that I will fall at any moment.

"Watch out!"

A white blur assaulted Scissor Runner as the dragon furiously swat its claws at the new arrival. Whoever this guy is, he had bought time for Meredy to drag me out of there and recover myself.

"Sting?"

"Huh? You know me? We met before?"

I watched in confusion as Sting continued to engage Scissor Runner in combat. It seems like he is using a power that manipulates light. On top of that, I'm getting the feeling that he is using Dragon Slayer magic, it has the same feeling given off by Natsu when he employed his variation of Dragon Slayer magic back at Tenrou Island.

There's no doubt about it, this is Sting. I have helped Anna teach this naughty kid back at her school and he never failed to give me a headache with his actions. This is Sting Eucliffe, I'm sure about it. He was only somewhere between three to five years old when I last saw him less than an hour ago in the bunker before I traveled through time again. I wouldn't expect him to be a fellow time traveler as well. It's fine if he doesn't remember me, young kids aren't known for having good memories and they weren't Dragon Slayers yet when we separated, he and the other Dragon Slayers from the past couldn't possibly identify me by smell since they haven't acquire this particular trait before I left. They don't have the opportunity to register my scent in their memories yet.

Still, _Sting_ is a Dragon Slayer and a time-traveler. Is this a canon plot or has it changed?

I retreated with Meredy into the safe confines of a building as the hatchlings went about bringing chaos and destruction. I quickly used this brief moment of respite to replenish my reserves by passively absorbing the ethernano in the air, the amount of atmospheric ethernano in this timeline is a lot denser than what I experienced in the past. My recovery rate will be faster here.

The buildings we are at were no longer safe as another army of the hatchlings swarmed into the area. A laser blast from one of them caused the nearby wooden stands to catch fire and I devoured the flames eagerly to replenish my magic.

"Fire God's Bellow!"

I reduced the hatchlings into ash as I surveyed the amount of damage I did to our surroundings. I wonder how strong I truly am now when compared to mages of this era?

"Wakaba! Macao! Romeo!"

"DAD! NO!"

I turned and saw the three mages Meredy called out to. One of the older mages with blue hair had fallen and the hatchlings were surrounding him, ready to eat him alive. Another of the older mage is dragging a protesting kid out of the fray.

"Wakaba! I leave Romeo to you!"

Meredy lunged and sent her blades tearing into the hatchlings surrounding Macao as I burnt the remaining ones into nothing. I grabbed onto Macao and dragged him to where Wakaba and Romeo are as we reorganised ourselves and hid behind the rubble.

"Dad! You ok?!"

"I'm fine." Macao wheezed out as he patted his son's head in assurance. He turned to Meredy and me. "Thanks for the save, Meredy, and..."

"Call me Zancrow. Any friend of Meredy's is a friend of mine."

The jaws of the three mages dropped comically in shock at the mention of my name. They had clearly heard my name before. How did they even know about my name?

I took a peek outside and saw the huge number of hatchlings overpowering the group of mages that is defending Crocus. At this rate everyone will be wiped out.

I wonder if I can pull off the move Igneel and I had came up together in our free time? It is still in the experimental stage but I think I can pull it off if I have enough magic power. The main reason I'm unable to do so back there is because that spell feeds off some of the atmosphere's ethernano when materialised, and hence it is unable to be used in that era due to the lack of ethernano in the atmosphere 400 years back. It's different now, the amount of ethernano here in the atmosphere is a lot more richer and vast.

"Say, anyone here able to use Fire magic? I need a boost."

In response, Macao and Romeo produced fires of their own and I gobbled them up greedily.

Only for me to nearly spit them back out.

"Gross! What kind of fire did you feed me?!" I shouted as I bonked Romeo on the head with my fist. His fire stink!

"Sorry! It was an accident! That was the wrong one!" He squeaked out as he covered his head with his hands. I would have believed it but the way his eyes twinkled told me an entirely differently story. This brat. He did it on purpose!

Whatever, I will let it slide for now. I had my fill and now isn't the time to be dawdling.

Our group had hidden ourselves high up on one of the destroyed buildings and we have a pretty good view of our surroundings. Another group of hatchlings is sneaking up on... I think that person is Gray? He is going to get himself killed at this rate, his group hadn't spotted the approaching hatchlings. I promptly shot the hatchlings down with my magic and Meredy followed my example. Macao and Wakaba assisted Jet and Droy from their positions as they pulled out of their area. We need to regroup.

"My magic can destroy the hatchlings in one hit but we need them to congregate together to achieve the best results." I mumbled as I said my thoughts out loud so that I can think better. "I need the little dragons to focus their attention on me."

"Zan! It's too dangerous that way!"

"I have you, don't I?" I retorted. "Besides, I was trained by the King of Fire Dragons when I was thrown back in time about 400 years into the past and then got myself stuck there for two years. I have grown a lot stronger. Igneel was pretty cool."

"YOU WERE **_WHAT_**?!"

"Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you that later. Told you that you might not believe me."

I cut off Meredy's screaming as my flames exploded out of me and embraced the group. The flames took on the shape of a gigantic wraith that is at least as tall as the dragons in height. We were within the wraith as we watched the hatchlings' attention being diverted to us. We are now their greatest threat.

Splendid.

"So... cool!"

"You can achieve this someday if you trained hard enough, brat." I said to Romeo.

My wraith stood in between the mages and the hatchlings as the mages in Crocus took this time to regroup and organise themselves.

"Meredy! Is that you in there?" Gray shouted out.

"Yes! Macao, Wakaba, and Romeo are in here too!"

"Since when can they do that?!"

"It's not them, it's Zan! None of them are that strong!"

"Hey!"

I ignored the conversation between Meredy and her guild mates as I mentally commanded my flaming wraith to launch itself at the hatchlings as one of its hands took a huge portion of them out in one smooth motion. The wraith released an inferno at another group and destroyed them as well and I heard the crowd cheering behind me.

They are so damn noisy.

The dragon that created these hatchlings is in aerial combat with a flaming dragon that had somehow decided to fight for our cause. It still isn't enough, we still can't win with our current firepower. We need to get the dragons out of our timeline and back into theirs.

"We need to send the dragons back into their own time!" I shouted over the din at the mages behind me as my wraith went on autopilot to destroy any hatchlings unfortunate enough to catch its attention. "We cannot fight a prolonged fight against the dragons! They will outlast us!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!"

As if on cue, an unholy scream screeched into the night sky as the dragon Future Rogue rode on caught fire and was sent hurtling towards the Eclipse Gate like a flaming meteor. The Eclipse Gate was smashed into smithereens and we watched as the dragons began to shine in a bright light. I willed away the flaming wraith as I let the entire group that was with me down onto the ground and we watch the proceedings. A miracle had happened.

History is rewinding itself.

Will I be sent back too? If yes, to where? Is this even the same timeline which I came from?

Judging from the way Meredy's hands tighten their hold around my right arm, she must be thinking of the same thing.

"Zan..."

"Meredy." I said as I wiped off her tears with my thumb as my memories of our time together flashed through my mind. I'm not expecting another time travel to happen when I was fighting the dragons by my lonesome, but nonetheless I'm glad that it did happen.

"I'm glad I can see you at least one more time."

"Don't go! Please!"

"It's not up to me to decide." I admitted as my body started to shine as well. I guess that the Eclipse Gate had decided that this is not where I'm supposed to be, but who knows what is going to happen? Time travel is a delicate and fickle thing.

"I'm glad I finally got to see you. I'm glad that you are happy and living well."

"I'm only happy if you are with me!" Meredy cried out as she hugged me as if this will cause me to stay here with her. "Please! I cannot take it if you leave me again! I don't want to be alone again! Don't leave me here!"

In a rare show of affection, I hugged her back with my single arm as I let my true emotions show. A few tears escaped from my eyes as well and I lifted Meredy's face to let her look at me one last time.

"You will never be alone. I will always be with you." I said as I pointed at my chest where my heart is with my thumb.

"Home is where the heart is." I whispered to her as I felt more than saw a crowd congregating around our area as they witness our interaction. The light emitting from my body glowed brighter and brighter and I know that I do not have much time left. "As long as you have me in your heart, I will always be there for you."

Meredy shook her head as she cried uncontrollably like the first time when I first found her amidst the ruins of destruction. She is still denying this undeniable fact, the fact that I cannot be here for her anymore.

"Listen up you stupid girl. Remember to take care of yourself. Don't space out in your battles, I won't always be here to save you. You don't need me by your side anymore, you have friends now who will take care of you where I can't."

"But there's no one there for you!"

"You are there for me." I said resolutely. "I said home is where the heart is, didn't I? I will always remember you, so I will never be alone."

The light from my body shine exceedingly bright and I see many mages around us covering their eyes with their hands to protect their eyesight.

"You will never be alone." I said as I hugged her for what is possibly the last time.

"I will always be with you."

And I shone.

* * *

**AN: Not gonna lie, this was supposed to be the final chapter and how RC was supposed to end. I was planning to be a troll and letting the story end like this with a cliffhanger, it is the ending that I have been thinking of since chapter 1. However, I decided to change the ending after giving it some thought.**

**Many things have changed at the end of the GMG arc, the most major changes is the lack of Gray's death and that Ultear did not use Last Ages to rewind time. I will let you figure the rest yourself.**

**Since the Eclipse Gate is supposed to need two people on both ends to open it, I have always been confused as to who open the gate in the GMG arc on the other side in the distant past in canon. In my story, Zancrow was the one to open it up, even if he did not do it willingly. Very little details are being explored about God Slayer magic despite it being inherently superior to Dragon Slayer magic (I mean, no motion sickness, able to eat their elements) and I want to add my own spin on things. Hence, I wrote about it having unique properties that is able to activate the Eclipse Gate, provided that they are strong enough to do so in the first place.**

**Just in case anyone asked, Natsu was shown to be able to create tangible flames that don't burn in his fight with Erigor in the Lullaby arc and used it as an extension of his hand, so I thought Zancrow should be able to do the same as well with his magic. Also, Zancrow cannot use Odin's Gungnir to kill the dragons' soul as I had mentioned it in one of the previous chapters that the spell is only good for one use, and it is already being used on Hades.**

**The next chapter is up ahead. What are you waiting for?! Head on to the next chapter already!**


	12. Chapter 12- Rekindled Flames

"How about this one? Does it look good on me?"

"I still think this one looks better though, what do you think?"

"Nashi! Get back here this instant! Stop running around and put on your dress!"

"But Mum~~ I don't wanna wear dresses!"

"Nashi!"

Meredy allowed a small smile to set on her face as she watched her guild mates fitting on the elegant dresses for the upcoming party the royal family is hosting in their castle as a celebration in defending their country from invading dragons. It has been a few days since that day and miraculously, no lives were lost. Master Makarov had stated that if it wasn't for Zancrow destroying such a large amount of hatchlings in the way he did, their entirety of their forces might have been overrun or worse, decimated.

"Meredy, have you picked out a dress yet?"

"I don't really know what to wear." Meredy admitted. "All of these are nice and I don't really have any preferences, so I am a little lost here."

"Really?" Mira's eyes sparkled with delight and Meredy instantly regretted her words. Meredy felt shivers crawling up and down her body as Mira rubbed her palms gleefully.

This is going to be another few long hours of being dressed up like a doll.

Damn it.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

The Princess of Fiore, who I now know her name is Hisui E. Fiore, bowed down in a ninety degree angle as a sign of apology.

To be honest, I don't really care much about what she did anymore since I survived the extraction process and somehow managed to stay in this timeline. When my body glowed so brightly like what happened to the dragons I really thought that I would be sent back to the past. However, the light suddenly died down and I stood there blinking my eyes owlishly with Meredy hugging me and not wanting to let go at all.

The Eclipse Gate had judged this timeline as the timeline I should be returning to.

There was a mismatch of time as well. I had spent two years in the distant past while in this timeline, I was gone for four years. I don't know what to make of this issue and I don't wish to dwell on the hows and whys either. I am finally back here, where I truly belonged.

I just hope Anna and the kids are safe back where I have left them. They probably thought that I was dead. I wish there is a way for me to assure them that I am alive and well.

My reappearance had apparently made it very awkward for the Magic Council and the royal family, especially the royal family since they were the ones who sentenced me to "death". From what Meredy had told me after I disappeared, the royal family had declared me dead, and somehow my death had sparked a movement across the entire nation that ended up in the royal family and the council to take drastic measures to solve the dark guild problem to appease them. I am now a famous figure of sorts. Go figure.

_Me_, a famous figure. I can already sense the headache forming.

I don't know what to make of the princess. On one hand, what she did is with the intent of protecting this country even if her methods were questionable. On the other hand, she was too naive, got herself manipulated, and everything went out of control from there. I'm not sure if I was the only one who she sacrificed to bring her failed plan to fruition and I don't want to ask. I don't want to know. I don't want to care. I'm tired. Call me selfish, but I'm sick of all the ridiculous bullshit that has been a part of my life ever since Hades fucked it up for me. Right now, all I want to do is to quietly settle down somewhere and live my life out in peace. And maybe once I have recharged, I will continue to do what I did before getting myself caught by the Rune Knights. I don't know the state of things in this world now since four years had passed while I was gone, but there probably will still be places that may need my help.

"I forgive you." I said as I stared at her. "But that doesn't mean that I will forget what had happened."

The princess said nothing as she kept her head bowed, but I can tell that she is crying.

"Raise your head, you are the Princess of Fiore. Don't bow down to a criminal like me."

The princess slowly raised her head and I saw her tear-stained face. She wiped off the tears with the back of her hand before continuing.

"With my authority and power as the Princess of Fiore, I want to relieve you of your crimes. That is, if you let me."

"You sure about that? I have killed, you know?"

"I am. Your actions before you were captured had bettered the country. You had ended numerous dark guilds with your own hands, something that the country should be doing a long time ago before that. We are trying to pick up what you left behind ever since your mysterious disappearance four years ago and there are improvements, but it is still a work in progress."

"I see."

"Your help in repelling the dragons was also instrumental to ensure the continued survival of Fiore. We did not suffer any casualties thanks to you. I have wronged you. Please, let me try to make things right. Let me have the chance to do so."

"It will be nice to finally be able to walk around as a free man." I admitted. "Being on the run isn't fun at all. I accept."

"T-Thank you. For giving me the chance to make up to you."

"However." My voice took on a warning tone and I can see how her guards and knights tensed at the sudden change in my demeanor. "If you pull this kind of shit again, or if I have to take on the alias of Skull once more to solve your country's problems, I will find you. And when that happens, a simple apology will not suffice."

"You will not have the chance." The princess said with a firm tone. "This time, I want to do the right things. I want to make things right."

"I hope you do."

* * *

Meredy fiddled with her dress nervously. What will Zancrow say when he sees her all dressed up like that? She knows that he was invited and will be coming to the party from what her guild mates told her, but she had never dressed up before. Sure, she had a makeover in the three years when they were first separated, but he had never seen her _dressed up_ before.

And right now, she is dressing herself up just for him.

What will Zancrow say? The last time she showed him her makeover, he didn't even compliment her on her looks.

Stupid idiot. Will it hurt him to even compliment her on her looks?!

"Relax, don't be so stiff." Mira said as she placed her hands on Meredy's shoulders. "Just act as per normal."

Meredy gave a sigh. Act normal? How?!

Mira led the group of women and girls from their group out into the huge room where the party is being held. It's being lavishly decorated and food of the highest quality is being served. An orchestra is by the side of the room, playing music for guests to dance to as waiters walked around with their trays filled with the finest drinks, serving it to those who need to quench their thirst.

Meredy didn't focus her attention on all of these. Her eyes darted around as she searched for the one person that truly mattered to her. She had grown paranoid. She's scared. She's afraid that he will just disappear on her again in the blink of an eye, even if it is not his fault.

She does not want to lose him ever again. She had so many regrets when she first learnt the news of his supposed "death", she had so many things that she didn't have the chance to say to him and will never be able to say to him. But Zancrow's alive and back with her now, she still has another chance. She will not hold back any longer. She will say what she truly feels about him even if it may destroy the relationship between them, the one outcome which she dreads.

But at the very least, she can say that she had tried.

"Looking for someone?" Cana teased as she draped an arm over her shoulder as she started to drink the fine wine that was being passed around. "He's over there."

Meredy's gaze followed Cana's outstretched finger and saw Zancrow leaning against a wall with his eyes closed in a quiet section of the room partially hidden in the shadows. He had cut his hair short again like how he did three years after the Tenrou incident. Zancrow is wearing a dark blue formal suit, looking very bored and looks as if he wants to get out of here as soon as possible.

Meredy had never seen Zancrow looked so smart and handsome before. She had never seen him dressed up before.

"Get a move on already." Cana teased as she playfully shoved Meredy towards Zancrow's direction. "We'll be right behind ya. No pressure."

Meredy turned around and saw the female members of Fairy Tail giving her a thumbs up with sparkles in their eyes. The kids probably didn't know what is going on, but they imitate their parents' actions anyway.

No pressure. Right.

Meredy sucked in a breath and cooled her nerves before approaching Zancrow.

Zancrow's eyes opened even before Meredy got within ten meters of him. To her hidden delight, his eyes widened momentarily before returning back to its original size. Similar to what the other female members of the guild wore, Meredy wore an elegant victorian dress. However, instead of the dark red colour which she usually preferred, she chose a dress that is dark blue in colour, similar to the colour of the suit Zancrow wore. Her hair had been done up by Mira into an elegant ponytail and she wore some accessories as well. Nothing too gaudy, just enough to highlight her charm.

"Zan."

"Meredy." Zancrow greeted her as he pushed himself off the wall and stood up straight. Meredy can't help but notice the glaring absence of Zancrow's left arm due to the flapping empty sleeve. Zancrow had told her the specifics of his encounters when he was accidentally sent into the past, including the part on the Dragon Slayers. They both agreed to keep it a secret for now. There's no point in revealing what they know just yet and it's best to adopt a wait-and-see approach. For all they know it might not be important at all and revealing it may just cause unneeded distress for everyone around them.

Meredy can't help but smile brightly. She playfully twirled around on the spot like what she loved to do when they are alone together.

"How do I look?"

Zancrow shrugged.

"Pretty? Fabulous? Breath-taking? Whatever words you prefer."

Meredy's eye twitched in annoyance. She really can't tell if Zancrow is doing this on purpose to annoy her or if he really don't understand the subtle hints she is trying to give him. Meredy love him with all of her heart, and she believes that somewhere deep down in Zancrow's own, he love her as well. He just don't realise it yet.

That will have to be fixed.

"Don't you know that a girl loves to be commented on her looks?" Meredy reprimanded Zancrow as she wrapped her arm around Zancrow's and dragged him into the center of the room where some of the guests are already dancing to the tune the orchestra is playing. "Geez, you are hopeless."

"I praised you, didn't I?"

"There's no sincerity in it, Zan."

Zancrow rolled his eyes and cleared his throat exaggeratedly.

"My sincerest apologies." Zancrow said as he did an exaggerated bow in her direction before standing straight up. "You look stunningly beautiful tonight, my fair lady."

Meredy laughed, both at how funny Zancrow did it and at the comfort of the fact that Zancrow is now relaxed enough to joke in this manner. He is finally able to move on from his past. She doesn't think he has truly forgive himself yet, but it is a good improvement.

Meredy stopped when they reached the center of the dance floor and turned around. She gave Zancrow an expectant look.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Zancrow's left eyebrow rose a tad higher than usual, but he extended his right hand towards Meredy and gave a slight bow in a gentlemanly manner.

"May I have the pleasure of dancing with you?"

Meredy placed her hand in Zancrow's.

"Of course."

The both of them started to dance to the tune. Nothing too complicated. They just adjust the rhythm of their steps to those of the slow but melodious tune that is currently playing as they enjoy each other's company silently.

Meredy couldn't have been happier.

Still, she is concerned about Zancrow's missing arm. Even after seven years, she still feels a little guilty about it. Apollo's Chariot may have been used to save the entire Tenrou group, but she knew that the true reason why Zancrow learnt the spell in the first place is for her sake.

She is the reason for his missing arm.

"Stop staring at my arm, or lack thereof. You are not responsible for what happened to it."

Meredy jolted slightly at Zancrow's words, but looked up to face him anyway.

"It's not your fault. I'm planning to get a prosthetic after this anyway."

Meredy could hear her voice rose higher in excitement.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Meredy beamed at the news. She couldn't help it. Everything seems to be going in the right direction for once. Zancrow is no longer a criminal, he's alive and here, and he finally decided to move on from his past and look forward to the future.

She wants to be a part of his future, just as he is part of her future.

The two of them continued the slow dance for a short while and Meredy could see many couples from both her own guild and the allied guilds dancing on the dance floor as well. She swallowed and finally decided to speak what is weighing on her mind for so long.

"Zan. I-"

"You are Zancrow, aren't you?"

Whatever Meredy was planning to say was interrupted as two people made themselves known. Zancrow gracefully ended their dance and led Meredy off the dance floor before facing the two people who interrupted them. Meredy couldn't help but felt a little irritated at the interruption. Of all the times they could have chose, must it be now?! The mood was just right, and she had finally gathered enough courage to do it too! Now she have to start all over again!

"Yes, I am. Who are you?"

A large muscular man with spiky green hair extended a hand which Zancrow accepted and shook it.

"I am Orga Nanagear from Sabertooth. I am the Lightning God Slayer. It's nice to finally meet another God Slayer other than Sherria."

"Hi! My name is Sherria Blendy! It's nice to meet you too! I am the Sky God Slayer from Lamia Scale!" A girl with dark pink hair greeted excitedly but also politely at the same time.

"Zancrow Cinders, formerly of Grimoire Heart. I am the Fire God Slayer. It's nice to meet the both of you."

Orga gave a large grin.

"I know you are crazy strong, like Jura level kind of strong. But I still want to spar with you some other time when we are both free as fellow God Slayers."

"I don't know about the 'Jura level' part, but I wouldn't mind sparring."

"There's no need to be so humble." Sherria gave a cute pout. "We all saw how you held your own against a dragon even if it was only temporary. Not even Jura can do that, and he's a Wizard Saint! None of the Dragon Slayers were able to hold their own against a dragon too! Even if for a short while!" Sherria gave a sigh. "I wish I can be on your level of power someday."

"I'm sure you will. I sense a great deal of magic power from you, it's very impressive for someone your age."

Sherria gave Zancrow a bright smile and the three God Slayers bonded over their shared form of magic. Meredy is irritated at the untimely interruption but she isn't unhappy at it. She's glad that Zancrow is now attempting to make friends, and his fellow God Slayers is a nice start.

They really could have chose a better timing though.

The four of them made their way to the tables where a wide spread of food is being offered for them to choose and eat at their convenience. They all took a plate as they chose what they want to eat as they continued their topic of discussion.

"Here."

Zancrow passed a plate to Meredy filled with her favourite food and sweets, much to her surprise.

He didn't forget what she liked and disliked eating even after so long.

"Thank you."

Meredy accepted the plate with a soft smile on her face as Zancrow went to pick out his own food. She took a small bite of one of the desserts.

It's sweet.

* * *

Thankfully, the discussion between the God Slayers didn't take very long and both Zancrow and Meredy retired to one of the standing table with their beverages to take a short break. Meredy absentmindedly swirled her wine glass and took a quick glance around. She doesn't want any more interruptions.

Finally gathering enough nerves to give herself that one last mental push, she spoke.

"Zan. I-"

"Over there!"

The cry of kids were heard as a group of them ran up to both Meredy and Zancrow, almost knocking over the waiters that were serving the drinks.

"Hi Aunt Meredy! Hi Mister!"

Nashi, Natsu's and Lucy's daughter, greeted the both of them on behalf of the group of kids as they crowded around them and bounced on their feet excitedly.

Meredy inwardly suppressed a frustrated sigh. Why can't things go the way she want?! All she wanted is just _some_ alone time with Zan! Just a little while!

Still, Meredy managed to clamp down on her frustration and plaster a sweet smile on her face as she patted the top of Nashi's head fondly.

"Hello, Nashi. What do you need?"

"Aunt Meredy, is it true that this Mister managed to fight off a dragon? Daddy told me he is a Fire mage too!"

Ah, so that's what the kids were curious about? A Fire mage stronger than Natsu?

"Yes, he is. His name is Zancrow. Go on, introduce yourself properly to him."

Nashi, the bright and cheerful girl she is, spun around to face Zancrow, who seemed ready to bolt out of here at any given opportunity seeing how the kids looked at him like a predator would to its prey. Meredy giggled.

Zancrow, the infamous S Class mage of Grimoire Heart, also known as the notorious bounty hunter Skull, is afraid of a bunch of energetic kids. She wish that she can take a picture of his face right now.

"Hi Zancrow! My name is Nashi! It's nice to meet you!"

Nashi extended her right hand out fully for Zancrow to shake, which he bent down slightly to match her height and returned the gesture, with _caution_, looking as if Nashi is a timed bomb waiting to explode.

In a sense, he isn't wrong. Nashi can get a little out of hand sometimes with how energetic she is and she did inherit some trouble-making tendencies from her father.

"Hello Nashi, my name is Zancrow. It's nice to meet you too."

The group of kids followed Nashi's example and introduced themselves one by one.

"Show us your magic!" Nashi exclaimed with twinkling eyes. "Daddy told me you used black flames! So cool!"

Zancrow looked a little apprehensive in using his destructive God Slayer magic around the group of young and fragile children, but he held out his index finger and lit it on fire like a candle, making sure to lower the power output as much as possible.

"Coool!"

"Hey! Will you fight with Daddy? I want to see who is stronger!"

Meredy quickly covered Nashi's mouth with her hand just in case Natsu heard her and got the same idea as well. A guild brawl in the royal palace is the last thing they need.

"Mffph! Mffph!"

"Nashi." Meredy tried to placate the little girl squirming in her hold. "It's not nice to fight people the moment you meet them. Especially not in an important place like this."

Nashi finally wormed her way out of Meredy's grasp. "But Aunt Meredy~~ I want to know!"

"How about I show you guys something else?"

Zancrow's voice got the attention of the kids as he very slowly picked up five serviettes from the table top and showed it to them. He bent down to the kids' level and the kids got closer to see what Zancrow is trying to show them.

"Watch very carefully now."

Zancrow crumpled the serviettes into a ball and clenched it into his palm with his fingers, hiding the serviettes from view. When he reopened his palm, five small birds were chirping and sitting on his palm where the serviette once was.

"Birdies!"

The birds took flight into the air and the kids went about to chase the newest object that got their attention. Meredy can see Zancrow visibly breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Come on, this place isn't safe any longer. The kids might return anytime soon and I don't want to fight that crazy Dragon Slayer. If anything, I'm willing to bet that girl is going to grow to be even more destructive than her father. The resemblance is obvious."

Meredy tried her best to stifle her giggle at the thought as she followed Zancrow.

* * *

The two of them eventually found themselves a safe haven near the spot where the guild masters were drinking and chatting. While both Zancrow and Meredy are fine with socialising, the both of them treasure their peace and quiet more. The spot near the guild masters is empty and it doesn't seem like anyone will be coming here anytime soon. As per usual, Meredy discreetly checked the area for possible disruptions, this time including the kids in the category as well. She does not want to be interrupted _again_.

Meredy's first two attempts were already thwarted by untimely interventions. There won't be a third time if she can help it.

"You were trying to tell me something earlier, weren't you? What is it?"

Meredy turned to Zancrow, who is leaning on the standing table and swirling his own drink lazily. She took in a deep breath.

"Zan. I-"

"NO WAY IN HELL ZANCROW IS YOURS! HE BELONGS TO FAIRY TAIL! SO IS YUKINO!"

"HE IS A GOD SLAYER LIKE ME! SABERTOOTH WILL TAKE IN ZANCROW! YUKINO WAS OURS IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"Lamia Scale will enter the competion for both Yukino and Zancrow as well. We have a God Slayer too."

"Such individuals with beautiful parfum should enter Blue Pegasus."

"WILD!"

Meredy couldn't help but facepalm this time. _Please, no._ Just when she thought she finally got the perfect opportunity, _this_ happens.

An inter-guild brawl. With Zancrow as the prize too. Just great.

"Huh. I didn't know I am so popular. What did I even do?"

Meredy sighed as she sipped on her drink. Guess she would never get to confessing to Zancrow today.

"You are strong, and what you did in your time as Skull had endeared yourself to the public, especially the mages. I thought I told you that already?"

"You did. But I guess this is the first time I see for myself the true meaning behind your words. I had kind of expected for it to be a joke too. I mean, come on. _Me_, a public figure? An _inspiration_ to young and aspiring mages? And what's with the brawl with me as the prize? They didn't even ask whether I will be joining a guild."

Meredy looked up at Zancrow.

"You aren't planning to join one? I was of the impression that you will join Fairy Tail like I did."

"I honestly don't know." Zancrow admitted. "I have no idea what to do from now onwards."

The tension in the room rose as the various guilds tensed up to start the brawl that will happen at any moment now.

"Let's do this."

"This is a nice distraction from the tournament"

"We'll follow suit."

"My young blood is boiling~~"

Crap, even the guild masters are into it as well.

"Charge!"

"Take that!"

"Do it!"

"Pull Makarov's hair!"

"You bastard!"

"Granny, don't start stripping!"

"It's a free fight!"

"Men!"

This time, it is Zancrow who gave a sigh as he grabbed Meredy's hand and skillfully led her out of the room. No one noticed their departure from all the fighting.

"Come on, let's get some fresh air. All this noise is giving me a headache."

* * *

The two of them eventually made their way into the royal garden and the two of them strolled through it to enjoy the sights, the quietness of it, and the cool night breeze.

Zancrow realised that they are still holding hands and made a move to release it, but Meredy grabbed onto his hand and refused to let go.

"Meredy?"

"Zan." Meredy said as she tried to muster her courage for the fourth time tonight. "I... I have something to tell you."

"Oh, right. You have been trying to tell me something ever since before Orga and Sherria appeared." Zancrow said as he stood by her side and turned to face her. "Well, I'm listening. You know you can always talk to me whenever you want to, there's no need to be so nervous."

No need to be so nervous?! Of course she's nervous! It's a confession for crying out loud!

"I... I..."

Zancrow gave an encouraging nod to show that he is listening and to coax Meredy's words out of her.

"What do you think of _us_? As in, our relationship?"

"Huh?"

"I love you, Zan." There, finally. She had finally said it, there's no going back now. "I always did. I just didn't have the chance to tell you because I was afraid. I'm scared, Zan. I am scared that... that you will just say that you see me as nothing more than a little sister, that you wouldn't return my feelings." Meredy blurted out. "But then, you got yourself captured, and we were separated by a gap of 400 years and I thought you were _dead_. To me, you had _died_, Zan. You had died without me being able to tell you how I truly felt about you. I... I felt so much regret." Meredy said as tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she forcefully held them back. "But by some stroke of luck, you are back. With me. I don't want to experience something like that again. I know that what I say today can possibly ruin our existing relationship, but I know I will regret it if I never come clean and admit to you what I truly feel about you." Meredy finished in a single breath and she felt her shoulders relaxing now that the tension is out of her system.

"I love you." She whispered out, but not daring to look at Zancrow in the eye.

Zancrow was silent throughout the conversation and Meredy have no idea what he is thinking. She didn't dare to look at him in the eye either. She felt as if she wanted to bury herself in the ground and hide herself from the world after the confession, but she needs to say it out and she needs to hear what Zancrow has to say even if ultimately, the worst comes to pass.

"Meredy, look at me."

Very slowly, Meredy raised her head to look at Zancrow, who still have the same expression on his face since the start of the confession.

"I... I am not the most socially well-adjusted man, Meredy. You know this." Zancrow began speaking. "When I first found you, it was because I don't want, and I cannot bear to see a kid of all people getting killed in cold blood in front of my eyes. You know this. I don't know what to make of you back then, but I know that you are someone precious that I want to protect no matter what. You kept me sane in Grimoire Heart when all I ever cared for was revenge. You were the reason why I still had some hope that I will live on after I got my revenge when I was still planning for it, you were my purpose for living, and that remains true even up till now. You were why I managed to keep myself sane when I was thrown into the distant past where dragons roamed the skies and see humans as nothing but food save a few pacifist dragons." Zancrow took a breath before continuing. "You have a bright future in front of you, Meredy. I have nothing. All I had gave you so far were sadness and hardship all because of my own selfish desires. I never _asked_ you what you truly wanted. I left you at Fairy Tail even though I knew that you would choose to come with me if I asked, even if Fairy Tail have been nice to you. I justified my actions by believing that it would be the best for you, that you will not continue to live the life of a dark mage, but I never _asked_ for your opinion, not even once. I just threw you in there without any warning and disappeared without a trace. I... I don't deserve someone as wonderful as you, Meredy. Never once did I thought I did. I saw a bit of Ria in you initially, but I have never treated you as a younger sister. It was too painful for me. I have always see you as my equal. I know something in our relationship has changed when we first met three years after the Tenrou incident. I know you see me differently, but I thought that it was just a phase for you, that it may be just puberty wrecking havoc on your mind. I'm not suited for you, Meredy. Someone like me don't deserve someone as kind as you."

"Zan." Meredy cut in as she put her hands on both sides of his face. "Please. Don't think that way. I... I will never hate you for anything. I can't and I won't. All you have done so far is to guarantee my safety and happiness, I cannot fault you for that, really. I know. I know that you need time to recover from your emotional scars. You are hurt, Zan, but what is frustrating is that I cannot do anything to help. I..." Meredy choked on her words, but she forced herself to continue. "I feel useless, Zan. Because I cannot do anything to help while you did everything in your power to help me. You helped me stay alive. You helped me to live a life that is free from the darkness. You did everything you can to give me a sense of purpose and to let me have a happy future. But that future will never be complete without you. Let me in, Zan." Meredy said as she tried her best not to cry. "Let me into your future, just as I want to let you into mine. I am not expecting a response straightaway nor am I expecting any drastic changes in our relationship. I just want to say what has been on my mind for so long. I just want you to know. I am willing to wait, even if it takes ten years, twenty years, or even longer. I know you are a broken man, but you had broke yourself not only for your sake, but for mine as well. Don't get the wrong idea, I didn't love you because I feel indebted to you or anything, but because _I want to_. Let... Let me love you, Zan. Let me try to help. This time, let's do this together. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Zancrow put his hand onto one of Meredy's and gently pried it away from his face.

"I... I will try." He said. "I don't know how things will work out and I don't know what to expect, I don't know what to do. But I will try. No matter what, you will always be important to me. That will not change."

Meredy broke out a smile as she hugged Zancrow and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, Zan. That's all I ask from you. You will always be important to me as well."

"You don't mind me being seven years older than you?"

"Five. You spent two years on the other side while I waited for four years over here. So technically, we are now five years apart. Not that big an age gap anymore, is it?"

Zancrow snorted as Meredy felt him returning the hug free his arm and rested his head on top of hers.

"Maybe we should thank the princess for it?"

"I still don't like her."

"Me too. But at least everything ended well."

"Yeah. I'm glad you are back here."

The two of them continued their hug as they enjoyed each other's presence silently. Meredy cannot help but let a blissful smile work its way on her face. She had finally show Zancrow her true feelings and he returned them.

"Alright, the whole lot of you had seen enough. Get out here."

Meredy jumped a little in shock as she spun around and saw her guild mates walking out of their hiding spots in various parts of the garden.

How much did they see?! Why did she not sense them?! Why didn't Zancrow tell her that they were watching?!

"They are in _loooooooooveeeee_." Happy called out.

Natsu and Grey, in a rare show of teamwork, acted out a portion of what they had saw.

"Let me love you, Zan." Grey said dramatically as he posed as Meredy and Natsu as Zancrow while doing exaggerated actions at the same time. "Let me try to help. This time, let's do this together. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Meredy's face flushed beet red and she really wish that she can hide herself right now. This is embarrassing!

"Why didn't you tell me there were people watching?!" Meredy slapped Zancrow on the arm but it didn't affect him in the slightest. "Argh! This is so embarrassing! Idiot!"

Zancrow gave a shrug.

"Well, whatever you wanted to say sounded important and I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Zan!"

"Hey Aunt Meredy! Was that a confession?"

"Not. Another. Word. Asuka." Meredy growled out.

"Mum! Aunt Meredy is scary~~"

"Blondie!" Natsu said loudly as he walked over to sling an arm over Zancrow's shoulders, totally oblivious to his annoyed look, or maybe he just didn't care. "Does that mean you are joining Fairy Tail? Come on, join our guild! You can see Meredy everyday and we can finally have our fight!" Natsu laughed manically at the thought of a fight with Zancrow and shot cones of flames into the air from his mouth in excitement.

"Yay! Daddy and Uncle Zancrow! Fight!" Nashi yelled out excitedly before running towards Meredy.

"Aunt Meredy." Nashi pulled at the skirt of a very embarrassed Meredy to get her attention. "Will you and Uncle Zancrow be having babies soon?"

"Nashi! Don't ask these type of questions!" Lucy looked alarmed at the words her daughter spoke.

"But Mum~~~"

"This." Meredy turned back her head slightly to look at Zancrow upon hearing his voice. "Is what you deal with on a daily basis?"

Meredy cannot help but laugh at Zancrow's unbelieving tone. Her Zancrow is back. He is with her. They will never be separated again if they can help it. And most importantly, his emotional scars are healing. This time, she will be there to help him.

His dying flames are now being rekindled.

"Yes." Meredy said happily as she held onto Zancrow's hand, and he gave it a light squeeze in response to reassure her of his presence, knowing her paranoia of losing him. "Yes it is."

"Welcome back, Zan."

-END-

* * *

**Edited: 28/2/2019**

**AN: TADA! End of story! I thought it might be good to end the story on a light-hearted tone instead of a somewhat tragic one. I'm glad I made this choice.**

**And before there are more questions on why there aren't any more chapters or why RC ended here without expanding on the other arcs like Tataros or Alvarez arc, I'm pretty sure that I had mentioned back in Chapter 4 that the end of GMG arc is where I plan to end the story. So yeah, I am not entertaining anymore of these questions. The whole point of fanfiction is to write something different from the story which you are basing your writing on. I had left some room in this story so that it is possible to do a sequel for RC if I wish, but honestly, I don't see Zancrow making a big difference to the storyline at this point in time onwards. The only thing I can think of now is a fight between him and Dimaria due to her God Soul Take Over, and writing another two arcs just for the sake of one single fight is not productive when I don't have the interest in continuing it in the first place. I might write one someday, but it is definitely not anytime soon. Some of you might find the ending lackluster, but I had already told you since the beginning that RC is not a story with interesting fights and stuffs. It is just not that kind of story. RC is a story that focuses on both Meredy and Zancrow and how they grew as a person.**

**I hoped that you enjoyed Rekindling Cinders. It was fun writing it and I hoped you had fun reading it as well. As for any other new works, I still have an idea of a FT fanfic in my head but I don't think I will be writing them soon. This is because I have been writing too many FT stuffs and the stories I have in mind are _really_ long. I estimate that I may need years to complete it, assuming I don't give up halfway. I'm not a fan of long stories. Not many have succeeded in retaining my interest in it and it is so damn tiring to write them on top of what I have to do irl. I have always wanted to write short stories, RC is the first successful one I wrote. The other two I wrote, TAOFT and IJWTTTW, while fun to write, had derailed into becoming a long story along the way, and I kind of regret letting it progressed that way.**

**Another reason is that I'm itching to write a Naruto fanfic. I have been waiting for ages to find time to do so. I have a few ideas but I think I'm probably deciding on one soon. There is one that looks very promising, but I won't know until I get a few chapters out to see the feasibility of such a story. The Naruto series is a very delicate thing to write about. The plots can be very heavily dependent on each other.**

**And this time, I'm aiming for it to be a short story as well. No more long stories if I can help it. Writing these are a nightmare, gosh.**

**Hope you enjoyed Rekindling Cinders, and thank you for supporting me in my work(s) thus far!**

**-Banix**


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